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The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans.

One of the wonderful things about Europa Barbarorum for RTW was, well, its Wonders.

In place of the very few and Graeco-Romanocentric "wonders" from vanilla Rome Total War, the EB team researched and implemented more than 70 historically accurate man-made and natural Unique Buildings of the ancient world, from the British Isles to India. Not only did they appear as buildings, with descriptions and bonuses; many of them were made into Battle Map models, so you could fight in the shade of Stonehenge or between the feet of the Sphinx at Giza.

Europa Barbarorum 2 will retain many if not most of these features, but the introduction of a unique Province Building for every region gives us the opportunity to expand this kind of content.

And this is where you, the community, can be part of the project. There are many wonderful features of the classical world, and the success of the Quotes Project has convinced us that our community of fans has a lot to contribute.

We are looking for two kinds of things.

1. "Wonders of the Ancient World" that could be made into Unique Buildings as in EB1.
2. Significant and interesting features of geography or culture that could be part of the Province Building descriptions.

Don't be overly concerned with categorizing your submissions. Ultimately the team will decide how best to use the material. It goes without saying that we are only interested in unique features that are contemporary to 3rd, 2nd and 1st centuries BCE: the Eiffel Tower is very unique and wonderful, but wouldn't be appropriate for Europa Barbarorum.

The Rules

1. No Spam will be tolerated. Spurious, "funny", or obscene posts will be deleted and the poster reported to global moderators if necessary. If the Team's time is wasted on policing juvenile spam, the project will be abandoned and the thread locked and/or deleted.

2. Look at the list of Wonders already in EB or already proposed. Posting something that is already there just wastes everyone's time. A search of the thread will help determine if your idea has already been posted.

3. The Team will decide which wonders will be included. There may be an upper limit to how many are possible, and overall balance will also be a consideration. Ultimately, we'll decide what goes in the release, although anyone can modify their own version if they wish.

4. Do Not Overdo It with Images. Please be considerate of other forum members who may have slower internet connexions or older computers: if you have a big image, use thumbnails or [spoil] tags to minimize its impact. Feel free to hyper-link to images on Wikipedia or other sites rather than posting them directly here.

5. Do the Research.Don't just post a name- we need some information about whatever it is you think should be included. Bear in mind that neolithic sites like Newgrange may well have disappeared by the Iron Age, only to be rediscovered by modern archaeology. We need some evidence that the site was known to the people of EB.

6. Be Original. Do not just copy and paste Wikipedia articles- if you care enough about a cool feature of the ancient world to suggest it to us, care enough to write your own description.

There is no cut-and-dried format in this project: the best way to exemplify what it is you would be doing is to provide you with a few examples.

New Wonder Proposal: The Vale of the White Horse

The White Horse of Uffington, with its elegant lines of white chalk bedrock, is thought to be the oldest hill figure in Britain. The image is a stylised representation of a horse (some would say dragon) and is thought to date back as far as 1000BC in the late Bronze Age. This is by far the oldest of all the white horses, and is of an entirely different design to the others. Unlike the solid and more or less naturalistic figures of the other horses, the Uffington white horse is formed from stylized curving lines some ten feet or less wide, and its length of around 365 feet makes it over twice as long as the longest of the Wiltshire horses.

The original purpose of this horse is unknown. It may have been the emblem of a local tribe, and have been cut as a totem or badge marking their land, or it may have had a religious purpose or significance. The horse-goddess Epona was worshipped by the Celts in Gaul, and she had a counterpart in Britain, Rhiannon, so the Uffington white horse may have been cut by adherents of a cult of the horse-goddess.

Alternatively, the horse could have been cut by worshippers of the sun god Belinos or Belenus, who was associated with horses. He was sometimes depicted on horseback, and Bronze and Iron Age sun chariots were shown as being drawn by horses. Conceivably, if this suggestion is correct, the horse could have been cut on the shallower slope at the top of the hill in order to be seen from above by the god himself.

The Uffington white horse can be seen from up to twenty miles away in good conditions. It can be seen close up from the top of nearby Dragon Hill, but is perhaps best viewed from three or four miles away, being on the very top of the escarpment where the slope is less steep.

The Manger is a strangely shaped valley, which is thought to have been formed by the melting of ice in the last Ice Age. Folklore suggests that the manger is the supernatural feeding place for the White Horse, which would travel from its vantage point on the crest of the hill on moonlit nights.

Dragon Hill is a low flat-topped mound situated in the valley below the White Horse. Although later legends has it as the place where St George slew the dragon, the flat, bare top seems to have been man-made sometime in the later Bronze Age. As it affords a good view of the Horse, it is assumed that it was built for this purpose.

Here is a list of the Unique Buildings from EB1, roughly divided by geographical region. Please, study this list before you submit a suggestion for a new Wonder that we already have. Most of these will appear in EB2.

{oneone} oneone
{oneone_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{oneone_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{oneone_barbarian} Tolosa (Place of Lakes)
{oneone_barbarian_desc}
When the Galatians campaigned in Greece, it culminated in the spectacular sack of Delphi, after which their fortunes were reversed, and the Celts fled into the north, abandonning captured cities, many fleeing for the safety of secured territories in Tylis. Others, however, decided to return home to Gaul with their share of the substantial treasure they had managed to loot from Greece.\n\nThese were members of the super-tribal Volcae, or 'Wolves', a collection of many tribes spread across Europe, though many of the most famous resided in southern Gaul. There, near the fortress of Tolosa, they gave thanks to their gods by performing a common Celtic ritual; votive offerings of enemy arms, armor, and treasure. The gods' share of the loot, as well as a convienent place to hide additional treasure, should it ever be needed. These were deposited in many holy lakes, and the treasure was so great, the lakes themselves held even a great earthly value outside of the Celts' religious sensibilities.\n\n
With these lakes left undisturbed, the local tribes should be peaceful, knowing, if nothing else, they still have their great sign of piety left intact. However, draining and plundering these lakes, while offending them, could leave one with a truly enormous amount of wealth at their disposal.
{oneone_barbarian_desc_short}
You have offered back to the gods the plundered goods. The gods smile down upon you!

{oneone_greek} Akropolis Athenaia (The Athenian Akropolis)
{oneone_greek_desc}
The importance of the Athenian Akropolis is hard to underestimate. The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the patron goddess of the city Athena, is one of the most recognizable buildings in all of history. It was also considered the pinnacle of Greek craftsmanship and art. The even holier Erechtheion with the ancient statue of Athena also sat on the Akropolis, as did the Temple of Athena Nike and the massive and grand Propylaia. On one slope of the Athenian Akropolis sits the Theater of Dionysos, the birthplace of tragedy and comedy and the showplace of Athenian cult and festival, while on the other is found the world's most famous and earliest democracy, centered in the Athenians' Agora.
{oneone_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction on the famed Athenian Akropolis. Athena herself smiles down upon you!

{oneone_egyptian} Artemision Ephesou (Temple of Artemis at Ephesos)
{oneone_egyptian_desc}
The people of Ephesos built a magnificently beautiful temple to honor Artemis, goddess of hunting, nature, and fertility. They built it upon the foundations of a previous temple to Artemis sponsored by King Kroisos of Lydia, whose wealth was vast enough to be considered proverbial. The original temple burned to the ground in 356 BC, on the very night of Megas Alexandros' birth. The arsonist Herostratos claimed he wanted his own name to be remembered for all time. Plutarchos would later declare the goddess was too busy watching over Alexandros to look after her own temple!\n\nIt was eventually restored in 323 BC, after the death of Alexandros. The sculptors Pheidias, Polykleitos, Kresilas, and Phradmon contributed great works to the temple. Filled with precious treasures and works of art, it continued to attract thousands of visitors and pilgrims from across the ancient world.
{oneone_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos.

{oneone_carthaginian} HaMiqdasim Sel Ba'al-Hammon WeAstarot (Ba'al and Astarot's Temple Complexes)
{oneone_carthaginian_desc}
Four huge and powerful structures in the magnificent city of Qarthadast stood as examples of Qarthadasti might: the temple districts of Ba'al and Astarot, the harbor, and the triple wall.\n\nThe temple of Ba'al-Hammon, which resided near the waterfront of the city, was famed for its cyclopean architecture that blended Greek and Phoenician styles. A massive academy was connected to the temple itself. The learned citizens of Qarthadast attended what was essentially one of the first universities of antiquity. The priesthood of Ba'al was based in this district, where it directly supported the élite fighting force known as the Sacred Band. Ba'al shared the temple complex with his consort Tanit. It is argued that in later years Tanit became more popular than Ba'al. Within the temple of Tanit in Qart-Hadast Hanno was said to have hung the skins of three beasts he called Gorillas that he found on his journey down the west coast of Africa as far as the gulf of Guinea. \n\nThe district of Astarot, as well as the training grounds outside the city, was equally magnificent in both Qarthadast and its northern neighbor, Utica. Though her temple was less impressive than that of Ba'al, the massive estates controlled by the priesthood allowed a special division of cavalry: Astarot's own Sacred Band.\n\nSTRATEGY: The Temple Complex provides additional happiness and troop experience bonuses when possessed by the Qarthadastim.
{oneone_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the temple complexes of Ba'al and Astarot in Qart-Hadast and at the other great monuments of the city. The gods will surely favour you for doing this service to them.

Rising above the center of the Eternal City is the Mons Capitolinus. This promontory is situated between the Forum Romanum to the east and the Campus Martius to the north and west. Roman legends tell of a skull that was found buried in its rock, which foretold, the augurs say, that Roma will one day be the head of the entire world. At its highest southern point stands the most sacred site in all of Rome, The Templum Iovus Optimus Maximus, also known as the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter. The temple honors the Capitoline Triad of deities; Jupiter, called "dies pater" or Shining Father, his wife Juno, Queen of the Gods and daughter Minnerva, Goddess of Wisdom. The Temple was famous around the Roman world and was copied in provinces as far away as Britannia and Africa. The Mons Capitolinus is truly the spiritual heart of the mighty Res Publica. \n\n The temple foundation is said to have been initiated by the fifth King of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, but later completed by Rome's last Tarquin King, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The Temple of Jupiter was completed in 509 BCE, but then later destroyed by lightning and fire on three different occasions. Each time it was destroyed it was rebuilt in a much grander style of opulence than in its previous existence. The last reconstruction of the temple was completed by the Emperor Domitian in 82 AD. \n\n The Temple of Jupiter was famed for its huge statue of the Best and Greatest himself, considered by many a wonder of the world. The statue of Jupiter was clothed with a tunic adorned with palm branches and Victories (tunica palmata), and a purple toga embroidered with gold (toga picta, palmata), the costume afterwards worn by Roman generals when celebrating a triumph...The entablature was of wood, and on the apex of the pediment was a terra cotta group, Jupiter in a quadriga, by the same Etruscan artist as the statue in the cella. This was replaced in 296 BCE by another, probably of bronze (Liv. x.23.12). There is no doubt that pediment and roof were decorated with terra cotta figures, among them a statue of Summanus 'in fastigio' (perhaps therefore an acroterion), the head of which was broken off by a thunderbolt in 275 BCE . In 193 BCE the aediles M. Aemilius Lepidus and L. Aemilius Paullus placed gilded shields on the pediment (Liv. xxxv.10).\n\n At the Mons Capitolinus' northern most point lies the Arx, the northern peak of the Mons Capitolinus. This northern prominence is the site on which stands the Citadel of Rome and the augur's observation post, the Auguraclum. The Citadel is the mightiest stronghold in all of Rome and has held against numerous enemy assaults for hundreds of years. Since its early inception the Mons Capitolinus has been the preeminent seat of the municipal government and the unchallenged symbol of Roman authority. Above the Roman Forum on the southeastern side of the hill is the Tabularium in which is maintained the bureaucratic offices of the state and all official records of Rome. \n\n The infamous Tarpeian Rock, a traditional place of execution, lies just below the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus to the south and many a condemned criminal has been thrown to their death on the rocks below. The Tarpeian Rock receives its name from Tarpeia, the traitorous vestal virgin and daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, Commanding General under Romulus at the Citadel. Ancient legend tells of Tarpeia's treachery. She allowed the Sabine forces inside the walls in exchange for whatever they had on their arms, hoping for gold bracelets and other items of value. As the Sabine entered into the fortifications they crushed her with their shields, which were in fact on their left arm. Her ashes were scattered on the Tarpeian Rock which now bears her name.\n\nSTRATEGY: Public order bonus due to loyalty: 10% (Romani only)\n Morale bonus to troops trained here: +2 (Romani only)
{oneone_roman_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Capitoline Hill and Temple of Jupiter

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{onetwo} onetwo
{onetwo_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{onetwo_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{onetwo_greek} Delphinion (Oracle of Apollo at Delphi)
{onetwo_greek_desc}
This was the literal and spiritual center of the earth to the Greeks. The Sanctuary of Apollo and the Oracle of Apollo located beneath the Temple drew common men and kings from nearby and distant lands seeking Apollo's advice. The grateful worshippers continually made dedications honoring him along the slopes of the mountain shrine, which was gloriously adorned with golden trophies and spoils of war. The sayings of the Seven Sages were written on the Temple of Apollo itself and were even carried to the ends of the known Greek world. The chief political event that determined the evolution of the sanctuary at Delphi in the Hellenistic period was the gradual dependence on Aitolia and its allies. Only seven years earlier, in 279, the Celts invaded and it was the Aitolians who successfully defended the god's sanctuary. After the invasion, Delphi has begun one of the most prosperous and influential eras in its history.
{onetwo_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Temple of Delphian Apollo. This was the literal and spiritual center of the earth to the Greeks.

{onetwo_egyptian} To Hieron en tois Hierosolymois (The Holy Temple in Hierosolyma)
{onetwo_egyptian_desc}
HaBait HaQados ("The Holy House") to the Hebrews\n\nThe Hebrew peoples are first mentioned in the 15th C BC by Amenhotep II, Pharoah of Aigyptos; and in the 13th C BC we are told that Pharoah Marniptah, pillaged the Jewish kingdom of Israel in Canaan.\n\nThe people of this kingdom were alleged to have adhered fervently to a monotheistic religion that was inseparable with their cultural and ethnic identity. They had long venerated a sacred site (Mount Moriah / 'Temple Mount') in Jebus (Jerusalem) but it wasn't until the 10th C BC that their king, Solomon built their first permanent temple to their god Yhwh on the spot.\n\nThis temple was however sacked a few decades later by Sheshonk I, Pharoah of Aigyptos.\n\nThe temple wasn't fully restored until 835 BC when Joash, King of Judah invested considerable sums, only to have it stripped again for Sennacherib, King of Assyria in 716 BC.\n\nJosiah, King of Judah had restored the temple again in 640 BC when in 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon completely destroyed it, the city of Jerusalem and carried a large portion of the population off into exile.\n\nWith the fall of the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia allowed the Jewish refugees to return home and commissioned the rebuilding of the temple. On March 12th, 515 BC the Jewish Governor Zerubbabel dedicated the new temple. Whilst the temple wasn't as extravagant as its predecessor, nor as monumental as its successor, it still nonetheless presented an imposing structure on the skyline of Jerusalem.\n\nThe temple narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BC when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was allegedly “turned from his anger” at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery. After the death of Alexander June 13, 323 BCE and the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple.\n\nUnder the Ptolemies, the Jews were given great liberty to maintain their religion and culture. When the Ptolemies were defeated at the Battle of Panium by Antiochus III 'the Great' of the Seleucids in 198 BC, things began to change.\n\nAntiochus who now controlled Judea tried to Hellenise the Jews and when he attempted to introduce Greek gods into the Jewish temple a large rebellion ensued. The rebellion was brutally crushed, but he took no further action. When Antiochus died in 187 BC in battle at Luristan, his son Seleucus IV Philopator succeeded him only to be murdered in 175 BC.\n\nAntiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his older brother to the Seleucid throne and imediately adopted his father's previous policy of Hellenisation. The Jews rebelled yet again and Antiochus in a rage, retaliated in force with little discresion shown between the guilty and innocent. Already smarting, the Jews became incensed when the religious observance of the Sabbath and Circumcision were outlawed. When Antiochus erected a statue of Zues in their temple and began sacrificing pigs their anger was pallable. They believed that this attack on the temple, the symbol of Jewish identity and faith was an attack on their very existence.\n\nWhen a Greek official tried to force a Jewish priest (Mattathias) to make a sacrifice to a Greek god in the temple, the priest slew him. Predictably, Antiochus resorted to the same bloody reprisals, but this only fomented further unrest. In 167 BC the Jews rose up en masse behind Mattathias and his five sons to fight and win their freedom. Mattathias, now called “The Hammer” re-dedicated the temple in 165 BC and the Jews celebrate this event to this day as 'Hanukkah'\n\nIn 63 BC, the Jews were divided in a bitter civil war. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus / Pompey the Great of Rome saw an opportunity not to be missed and took the side of Hyrcanus and the Pharisees. The later admitted he and his army into Jerusalem. Once inside, Pompey took action as he saw fit and began assaulting the Temple (against Jewish wishes) where the other party / Aristobulus and the Sadducees, had taken refuge. Jewish troops, Pharisees and Sadducees alike (12,000), then banded together and fought a desperate last minute defence of their temple. When it became apparent that the fight was lost, the survivors all committed suicide together rather than witness the “defilement” of their sacred place. Pompey having received the submission of the Jewish leaders looted the city and departed for Rome.\n\nIn 54 BC Marcus Licinius Crassus of Rome sacked the Jewish Temple. When news of Crassus' death at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC) reached Judea, the Jews claimed back their independence. After a brutal Roman campaign in 43 BC, the Jews were defeated and 30,000 sold into slavery.\n\nThe Jewish temple was to receive its last and most spectacular upgrade under King Herod Antipater “The Great” of Judea in 19 BC. The new temple was a colossal building that was said to have struck awe in travellers from all over the known world. Since 36 BC, Herod (not a Jew himself) was having problems with anti-Greeco-Roman sentiment amongst his Jewish subjects and believed the upgrading / rebuilding of the then standing temple would greatly relieve some of the tension. But in 6 BC he further alienated himself by allowing the Romans, on whom he had become dependant, to set their military standards in the temple.\n\nWhen Herod Antipater died in 4 AD and his son Herod Archelaus took the thrown, the country was on the brink of rebellion. When two popular religious teachers (Judas and Matthias) tried to remove the Roman standards, Herod Archelaus had the two burnt at the stake. As soon as Herod Archelaus departed for Rome to have his crown 'legitimsied', the Jews rebelled. The Romans had to dispatch Publius Quinctilius Varus and a large Roman army to wrest control back. Two thousand Jewish leaders were said to have been crucified. Herod Archelaus decided to personally take revenge on his return and after another large rebellion led by Judas the Galilean, Herod Archelaus was exiled by Rome and Judea became a Roman province. But the trouble didn't abate when in 11 AD a large number of Jews under Judas of Gamala revolted and were only put down after several years of hard fighting.\n\nThe Jews were again angered when in 39 AD when Emperor Caligula declared himself a god and ordered that his statue be set up in the Jewish Temple. In 45 AD the Jews were further roused when the Roman Procurator Gessius Florus pillaged the temple treasury and extorted the Jewish people for personal gain. When Hellenists marched into a synague in Caesarea in 66 AD to slay a pig whilst the local Greek speaking Roman garrison looked on, the Jews retaliated en masse. Eliezar ben Hanania ceased prayers and sacrifices for the Roman Emperor at the temple in Jerusalem. Having then gathered a large force of Jews he subsequently led a successful attack on the Roman garrison stationed in the city. When the 12th Legion was sent to put down the riot, they were massacred.\n\nThe riot soon turned into a full scale war for freedom from foreign power. The war (66–73 AD) only ended when a huge Roman force under Titus stormed Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple on August 5th 70 AD. 100,000 Jews died in the assault, 100,000 were sold into slavery and 2,500 used to feed the wild animals in the coloseum. In total, the war had cost 1.3 million Jewish lives but it had cost the Romans as well. To celebtrate this great victory, coins were struct and an arch erected depicting the temple treasures being paraded through Rome.\n\nThe destruction of the temple sparked another Jewish war of independance, the 'Kitos War' (115-117 AD). Emperor Hadrian visited Jerusalem in 130 AD and announced a new pagan temple to Jupiter was to be built on the temple site and in 132 AD Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina, and circumcision was outlawed. These actions incited the Jews to launched their third and final attempt to gain independence from Rome. The Bar Kokhba's revolt (132-135 AD) was a bloody / rutheless afair and the Romans were forced to commit more troops than they had under Titus. So costly was the campaign that the Roman generals' report to the Roman Senate omitted the customary statement "I and my army are well." This third war had cost the Jews 985 villages and 50 fortified towns being razed to the ground with a further 580,000 killed.\n\nEmperor Hadrian hence forth attempted to remove all trace of the Jews, their religion and presence. Jews were forbidden to enter Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), Jewish religious texts (Torah) and Calendars were outlawed and relgious scholars put to death. A statue of himself was set up aside that of Jupiter on the site of the temple and Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina as an insulting reminder of the anicent Jewish enemies, the Philistines. With the passing of Hadrian, the Jews were allowed to enter the city once a year to mourn the destrutcion of the temple (at what was later to be called the 'Wailing Wall'). This is the Jewish 'Tisha B'Av' day of mourning.
{onetwo_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at of the great Hebrew temple.

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{onethree} onethree
{onethree_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{onethree_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{onethree_egyptian} Philai, Edfu, Abu Simbel
{onethree_egyptian_desc}
The ancient Aigyptioi thought the sacred hill of Biga to be the first mound created out of Chaos, as well as the burial place of Osiris. The earth was so hallowed that only priests and temple servants lived there. The island of Philai located beside Biga was dedicated to Isis, who became immensely popular with the Romaoi and the Ptolemaioi during the Hellenistic period.\n\nThe nearby Temple of Horus at Edfu was the second largest of all Aigyptian temples (and was the best preserved). The monumental temples of Ammon Re and Hathor at Abu Simbel were cut from rock along the Nile, and were some of the most famous temples in the ancient world.
{onethree_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the ancient Aigyptian sites of Philai, Edfu, and Abu Simbel.

{onethree_greek} Eikon tou Dios (The Statue of Zeus)
{onethree_greek_desc}
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the chryselephantine statue of Zeus was the only wonder on the mainland of Hellas. The great temple, one of the largest in all the Hellenic world, was built by the architect Libon in 450 BC. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was given the task of creating a statue fitting for sanctuary in which it would be housed. He began work in 440 BC and used a wooden base to create the statue, upon which sheets of metal were placed. Then more precious metals and ivory were layered on top of those. When he completed it, it quickly became the focal point of the sanctuary and the most famous statue in the known world. Visitors from across Hellas and the rest of the Mediterranean came every year to see the statue. Repairs were made to it in the second century BC.\n\nBy the first century AD, the Roman emperor Caligula tried to move the statue to Roma, but his attempt was thwarted when the scaffolding built by his workmen collapsed. The temple still served as an important attraction, though not as important as the games and sanctuary were in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, up until the sanctuary and temple were closed in 391 AD by the Roman emperor Theodosius I. The statue was moved by wealthy Hellenes to Byzantion after the temple closed, and the temple was damaged by fire in the fifth century. It remained in Byzantion until it was destroyed by a fire also later in the fifth century.\n\nStrabo's words describing the statue were thus: "...although the temple itself is very large, the sculptor is criticized for not having appreciated the correct proportions. He has shown Zeus seated, but with the head almost touching the ceiling, so that we have the impression that if Zeus moved to stand up he would unroof the temple." Pausanias described it in the second century AD thusly: "On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold... In his left hand, he holds a sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the sceptre. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory."
{onethree_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the great statue of Zeus inside it.

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{onefour} onefour
{onefour_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{onefour_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{onefour_greek} Dodone (Oracle of Zeus Dodonaios)
{onefour_greek_desc}
"Wintry Dodone," the home to the most ancient oracle in all of Hellas. It was always regarded as one of the three greatest oracles in the Hellenic world, along with Delphi and that of Zeus Ammon at Siwa. Zeus was said to dwell in the stem of a massive oak, into whose hollow a statue of the god was placed. He revealed his divine will from the rustling of the wind in the branches of the tree, which sounds the priests then interpreted. Under the Epeirote kingdom, Dodone arose again in importance, and Pyrrhos contributed greatley to the adornment of the site. The great oak itself was often depicted as one of their chief symbols. The Aitolians ravaged the area and razed to the ground the temple of the god. It was later revived but had losts its greatest importance by then.
{onefour_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Oracle of Zeus at Dodone, one of the three most famous in the entire Hellenic world.

{onefour_egyptian} Megas Naos Persikos Anaitidos (Great Persian Temple of Anahita)
{onefour_egyptian_desc}
The famous city of Ekbatana was described by Polybius as the richest and most beautiful city in the entire world. Megas Alexandros may have destroyed part of the famous temple of Anahita there after his close friend Hephaistion died at Ekbatana, but during the reign of the Seleukid empire, the temple was still standing. In this period Ekbatana was one of the capitals of the Seleukid empire, and remained one of the most important cities under their control, and it further remained one of the imperial capitals of the Parthians.\n\nAlexander was reported by Polybius to have looted much of the gold and silver decoration of the palace there, and Polybius also says Alexander had the walls of one temple at Ekbatana pulled down after his friend Hephaistion died there in 324 BC, but if it was the temple of Anahita it must not have been as damaging as his comments suggest as later references show it was still standing and richly decorated. The palace itself at Ekbatana was very famous and Hyginus names it as one of the Seven Wonders of the World in his list. When Seleukos I Nikator took the city he also plundered much of its silver and gold, but Pliny states that Seleukos also did much to restore the city's glory. By the time of Antiochos III, the great temple of Anahita is described by Polybius as still having its gilded pillars and silver tiles from the roof stored inside, along with a few gold bricks and many silver ones. In 209 BC, Antiochos III looted these materials and minted royal coinage of nearly 4,000 talents to revitalize his treasury.
{onefour_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the great temple of Anahita at Ekbatana!

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{onefive} onefive
{onefive_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{onefive_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{onefive_egyptian} Parsa (Persepolis)
{onefive_egyptian_desc}
The seat of the Persian Empire. Darius was the true creator of the splendid palace complex at Parsa. The large audience hall, the Apadana, was supported by seventy-two twenty-five meter tall columns. It, along with the Hall of a Hundred Columns, were the two largest buildings at Persepolis and were among the most famous of all buildings in the ancient world. The Gate of All Nations was a monumental gateway constructed by Xerxes, and palaces too numerous to count here decorated various parts of the complex. In 330, Alexander destroyed the Palace after looting it, though he later regreted the act. But the complex was too large to destroy entirely. Many buildings still partially stood and were still visited by travelers and scholars. The new capital for Persis was eventually built nearby, but the remains of the old one were a marvel that was due reverence and visited by sightseers for the next two thousand years.
{onefive_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the seat of the Persian Empire, partially destroyed by Alexandros, but still a marvel with much cultural importance and visited by travelers and scholars.

{onefive_greek} Mausoleion Halikarnassou (Mausoleion of Halikarnassos)
{onefive_greek_desc}
As their realms expanded, Persian emperors could not control their vast lands without the help of local governors known as satraps. One of these satraps was King Mausolos of Karia. Although he led an uneventful life, his sister-wife constructed one the most beautiful buildings of the ancient world as his tomb.\n\nThe Mausoleion's beauty lay not only in its design, but also in its many decorations. Life-sized as well as larger-than-life statues of people, lions, horses, and other animals carved by the great Hellene sculptors Bryaxis, Leochares, Skopas, and Timotheus, adorned the sides of the tomb. The Mausoleion holds a special place in history because it was not dedicated to any specific god yet it attracted visitors from all over the world for centuries.\n\nSTRATEGY: Morale bonus to troops trained here: +1 (Hellenic only)
{onefive_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the tomb of Mausolos, one of the most richly decorated buildings of antiquity.

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{onesix} onesix
{onesix_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{onesix_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{onesix_barbarian} Teamhaidh Cnocinhaofan (Holy Hill of Tara)
{onesix_barbarian_desc}
The holy hill of Teamhaidh is actually not just a single hill, it's a series of smaller temple structures, as well as training structures, dormitories for soldiers, priests, and various servants. An ironsmith that produced weapons and jewelry for higher nobility and religious leaders was also located at the site. Both native Goidils and foreign Celts made pilgrimages to the holy site. Teamhaidh was a main site of the Goidils for centuries and eventually an important city was constructed near it to defend the site.\n\nIn later periods, the king of Ulster, Meath, and the High Kings were all coronated at Teamhaidh. The site was still an important religious site in Christian times, when several Christian crosses were arrayed around the grounds. Teamhaidh was eventually renamed Tara by the Vikings (a bastardization of its ancient name, Teamhair).
{onesix_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Holy Hill of Tara.

{onesix_egyptian} Heliopolis (The Sacred City of Helios)
{onesix_egyptian_desc}
(Known today as Baalbek) - Ba'al Hammon, Helios, and Ra were worshipped by Phoenicians, Hellenes, and Aigyptioi at this magnificent temple complex at a place called Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. Its massive edifice and lofty colonnades soared beneath the scorching Syrian sun to honor the great god of the sky.n\nPhoenician rulers, and later the Seleukid and Ptolemaic kings, expanded the complex with massive buildings carved with reliefs in honor of these magnificent deities. Bulls were sacrificed on the many altars found throughout the complex by Phoenician and Hellenic priests.
{onesix_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the great Temple City of Helios.

{onesix_greek} Aigai (Makedonian Royal Tombs)
{onesix_greek_desc}
An important regional city from the early Bronze Age, Aigai was the home of the first Makedonian royal palaces and the capital of the early Makedonian Kingdom. The ancient city was the burial site for Makedonian kings including Philippos II and Alexandros IV and it became the most important historical and ceremonial site to the people of Makedonia.\n\nIn 274 BC, King Pyrrhos of Epeiros left a band of Gaulish mercenaries in charge of the site and they pillaged some of the tombs. Luckily, what is considered the most important tomb, that of Philippos II, was left unharmed. Pyrrhos received a great deal of criticism from across the Hellenic world for his actions, and the recovery of the site by the true Makedonian kings gave a greater sense of pride and morale to the loyal Makedones.
{onesix_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the tombs of the kings of Makedonia that are located at Aigai, which was the ancient capital of the Makedones.

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{oneseven} oneseven
{oneseven_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{oneseven_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{oneseven_barbarian} Kogaionon (The Sacred Mountain)
{oneseven_barbarian_desc}
The sacred mountain of the ancient Getai, Kogaionon, was the most important and symbolic site in all the lands over which their reach spread. It was the spiritual center of the Getai state, and was probably located on Gradistea's Hill, identified by Strabo as Kogaionon ("The Sacred Mountain"). One of the most important figures in Getai religion and mythology was Zalmoxis, about whom there were numerous stories. One detailed how Zalmoxis, as a prophet, brought a message to the Getai about the afterlife and became their high priest. He went to Kogaionon and lived there, serving as high priest while on the sacred mountain. People would come from throughout Getai lands to seek out his advice, and he was by far the most important religious figure in their culture. After his death, he became worshipped as a god among the Dacians, to a large extent replacing their chief god Gebeleizis, who represented the sky. The polytheism of the Getai included other dieties as well, including Bendis, Gebeleizis, as well as a god of war as Ares was to the Hellenes.\n\nThough the mountain was not always covered with shrines and sanctuaries and military structures, many of those did develop in later centuries but before the Roman conquest. It especially was affected in the first century BC, when defensive structures and sanctuaries were built, most of all under Burebista, and exhibiting a uniquely Getic fusion of local and classical architectural techniques. Burebista (82-44 BC) was the first king to unite all the Dacian tribes and extended the Getai kingdom from the Northern Carpathians to the Haimos Mountains, and from the Middle Istros and Slovakia to the Hellenic colonies on the Pontos Euxeinos, with the help of the High Priest Deceneu. The priest emphasized sobriety, abstinence, and obedience of the Getai, all of which Diodoros Sikilios reports that Zalmoxis inherited from Hestia, the protective goddess of fire and the home. Under Burebista and Deceneu's great spiritual authority and leadership, the sacred precincts on Gradistea's Hill were permanently enriched with new sanctuaries such as the Great Circular Sanctuary, which shows that the Getai had a science of time measuring similar to Aigyptioi, Babylonioi, Indoi, and Hellenes.\n\nThe lands around the sacred mountain, felt more secure and loyal under its shadow, and the fortresses and sanctuaries that grew up on its slopes, besides providing defensive protection, also provided training grounds and inspirational centers for all Getai troops trained there.
{oneseven_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the most sacred mountain of the ancient Getai.

{oneseven_egyptian} Nekropolis Thebaie (The Theban Nekropolis)
{oneseven_egyptian_desc}
Developed heavily around 2,000 BC, Thebes had many glorious monuments erected during the 16th to 14th centuries as well, eras which saw the city as the capital of an empire from the Euphrates to the Sudan. The ruins of Karnak and Luxor encompass some of the most fascinating monuments of antiquity, with the Hypostyle Hall of Karnak, the temple of Akmenophis at Luxor and its dromos of the Sphinxes, and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings all holy and important sites to the Aigyptioi and to travelers from across the ancient world. Control of these sites and the proper respect due to them yields benefits, especially to the Ptolemies who continued Alexander's practice of presenting himself as the liberator of Aigyptos from the Persians.
{oneseven_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Theban Nekropolis, a collection of glorious monuments from the 16th to 14th centuries B.C.

{oneseven_greek} Rhodios Kolossos (Kolossos of Rhodos)
{oneseven_greek_desc}
The thriving commercial city of Rhodos, located on a small island in the Mediterranean that bears the same name, had strong economic ties with the Ptolemaios Soter of Aigyptos. In 305 BC, the Antigonids of Makedonia, rivals of the Ptolemaioi, besieged Rhodos in an attempt to break the alliance of Rhodos and Ptolemaios. Antigonids failed to capture the city and lifted the siege, leaving a wealth of military equipment behind. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians sold the equipment and used the money to erect an enormous statue of the sun god Helios. The construction of the Kolossos took 12 years and was finished in 282 BC. The statue stood at the harbor entrance for years until it collapsed during an earthquake that hit the island in 226 BC. The Rhodians received an immediate offer from Ptolemaios III Eurgetes of Aigyptos to cover all restoration costs for the toppled monument. However, an oracle was consulted and forbade the re-erection and its ruins remained where they were.
{oneseven_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the famed statue of Helios.

{oneseven_eastern} Basileioi Taphoi Pontou (Royal Tombs of the Kings of Pontos)
{oneseven_eastern_desc}
Strabo (12.3.39) says that "within the walls of the city (on the peaks of the hills above it) are both the palaces and monuments of the kings." The tombs, freestanding heroa, carved out of the living rock, in total number eighteen and are all from the Hellenistic period, but the five biggest ones above the city date to the earlier Pontic kings. The tombs are surrounded by a royal enclosure wall and are carved into the artificially flattened rock face of the mountain which towers above the city and the river. The arrangement and commanding view was very impressive for their capital city and remain the best known monuments in the region even today.\n\nThe monuments continual presence, looking down upon the city, provide a sense of worth and security for the residents of Amaseia and Pontic soldiers stationed in the capital city receive a slight boost in their morale, as none, while breath remained in them, would dare capitulate to an enemy under the sight of the tombs.
{oneseven_eastern_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the burial places of the kings of Pontos in their first capital city of Amaseia.

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{oneeight} oneeight
{oneeight_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{oneeight_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{oneeight_egyptian} Kedroi Phoinikikai (Cedars of Lebanon)
{oneeight_egyptian_desc}
The Cedrus Libani were the most famous trees of the ancient world. Their timbers were intensely sought for the construction of palaces, temples, and the largest of boats. These trees were a primary factor for the rise of Phoenician power and prosperity and, in later days, a cause for war between the Ptolemaioi and Seleukeia. The trees were part of many ancient legends: they held an important role in the Epic of Gilgamesh and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon once boasted that he had cut some down with his bare hands.\n\nSTRATEGY: Trade bonus, Construction cost bonus.
{oneeight_egyptian_desc_short}
You have stopped destruction of the Cedars of Lebanon, and done what you can to remedy the problem.

{oneeight_eastern} Van (Great Citadel and City of Van)
{oneeight_eastern_desc}
'This is the inscription of Sarduri, son of Lutipri, the great king. King of the world, King of Nairi, the mightiest of all kings. This great captain who knows not fear and whose might subdues all rebels. Sarduri, son of Lutipri, King of Kings, to whom all kings pay tribute; Sarduri speaks: These rocks from Alnium I brought; with them this tower of Tushpa I raised.'\n\nTushpa or Van has it was later called, that great citadel and city, cradled between the deep, life-giving waters of Lake Van and the magnificent arms of the Armenian mountains, the old capital of the ancient Armenian kingdom of Urartu, whose power was so great that at its zenith it brought the Assyrian Empire to its knees. Chosen by Sarduri I, King of Urartu, for its strategic position away from the barbarians beyond the Caucasus mountains, and its place at the heart of the Vannic region (known as Shupria and then Sophene), Van was for centuries the military and commercial centre of Urartu and its power and influence stretched (at its height) from the length of the Kura river to the lands of Media and even Syria herself.\n\nLike many other towns in Urartu, the city of Van was centred around a citadel or acropolis, placed upon the summit of a hill with its walls rising sheer from the steep slopes. In many cases the dwellings were carved into the cliff faces, though in the larger settlements there is evidence of a lower town built in the shadow and influence of the central citadel; Tuspha herself could support a population of some 50,000, and undoubtedly the lower town would have been quite extensive. Around Lake Van the most common stones are basalt and limestone, and these were carved into massive blocks and set without mortar for the palaces and castles of this region (often in conjunction with unbaked clay bricks at the height of the walls).\n\nTushpa's fortuitous position in later years made it an important capital in the Achaemenid Empire. The 13th Satrapy of Armenia (Western Armenia) was centred in Shupria and undoubtedly it was Van that stood at the centre of this powerful region of the Persian Empire. Over time the centre of power shifted from Van to the old Urartian fortress-city of Argishti-hinili, by then known as Armavir, and by the time of Yervand II, of the house of the Yervanduni, it was the capital of the kingdom of Hayasdan. However, even with the movement of the capital from the shores of Lake Van to the country north of Mount Ararat, Van must have still held some importance in Hayasdan as it was the largest city to the south, and so would have been the centre of all trade to the south and most probably to to the west as well, as the Royal Persian Road ran close to Lake Van on its way from Anatolia to the centre of the Persian Empire.
{oneeight_eastern_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the great citadel and city of Van and restored them to their former glory.

{oneeight_carthaginian} HaMiqdasim HaAgrigentim (Agrigento Temples)
{oneeight_carthaginian_desc}
Along a long rocky scarp, chosen as the southern limit of the town of Akragas, and nestling in the area to the south of it, are a series of temples to hellenic Gods: Hera (Juno) Lacinia, Concordia, Heracles (Hercules), Olympian Zeus (Jupiter), Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri) and Hephaistos (Vulcan), erected in the course of a century (5C BC), as if to testify to the prosperity of the city at that time. Having been set ablaze by the Qarthadastim in 406 BC, the buildings were later restored to full glory by the Romans (1C BC) respecting their original Doric style. By 272 BC, however, most of them still lay in ruin, waiting for better days.\n\nAll the buildings face east, respecting the Classical criterion (both Greek and Roman) that the entrance to the cella (Holy of Holies) where the statue of the god was housed could be illuminated by the rays of the rising sun, the source and blood of life.\n\nOn the whole, the temples are Doric and conform to the hexastyle format (that is with six columns at the front), the exception being the Temple of Zeus, which had seven engaged columns articulating the wall that encloses the building. Built of limestone tufa, the temples provide a particularly impressive sight at dawn, and even more so at sunset when they are turned a warm shade of gold.
{oneeight_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the damage and restored to glory the great temples at Agrigentum.

{oneeight_greek} (Temple Complex of Asklepios and Hygeia)
{oneeight_greek_desc}
For years, the destruction caused by the conflicts between the Persians and the Ionians and their mainland brethren in Hellas proper caused the migration of shiploads of dislocated or endangered Hellenes to the West. One of the most famous of these groups hailed from Phocaea, where rather then submit to Persian rule, most citizens elected to flee to their colonies in the West - chiefly Massilia (founded not too long before, among the Keltoi, along the Tyrrhenian Sea), greatly swelling the cities population. From there, other colonists went out to seek wealth or refuge at the Massilian trading colonies in nearby Iberia: Emporion, Mainake and Rhode. Though founded to promote commerce, each prospered as dependencies of Massilia or their own autonomous poleis, and probably entered their first periods of growth after receiving this infusion of refugees from Phocaea. That all three cities maintained positive relationships with the natives around them was appropriate, considering their metropolis' (mother-cities) metropolis, Phocaea's ancient relationship with the Iberians - Arganthonius, a local king, is said to have donated a huge sum of money for the city to build its first wall - who the former are said to have discovered for Hellas. Among them, Emporion eventually became the chief, especially after an influx of more refugees from Mainake, which was destroyed by the Qarthadastim.\n\nIn the agora of Emporion, many of the traditions of its ancient progenitor in Ionia were maintained or reproduced. Beyond the local achievements in exploration and enterprising efforts to form new trading relationships (Emporion later founded its own colony farther down the Eastern coast of Iberia), the city erected a series of structures dedicated to Asklepios and his daughter Hygeia, with a magnificent statue of the former becoming the most famous physical ornament of Hellenism in the far West. From these sanctuaries, most of Hellenic Iberia took its cues, and the cults of Asklepios and Hygeia were adopted not only in the other colonies of Iberia, but in the budding Hellenistic cities that had begun to grow up around them. Though the old magistrates may not hold complete authority in Emporion any longer, the great statue of Asklepios and the temples he shares with Hygeia, will always be the culture center of local Hellenes.
{oneeight_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Temple Complex of Asklepios and Hygeia.

{uniqueroad1} None
{uniqueroad1_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad1_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad1_eastern} Râh-e Abrisham (The Silk Road)
{uniqueroad1_eastern_desc}
The Râh-e Abrisham was a vital source of income for many Eastern peoples. Persia and other empires gained exotic treasures and riches from China via the Râh-e Abrisham. Silk, one of the most valuable goods traded on the road, is a wonderful clothing material because, in addition to being attractive and expensive, it is also tough an durable. Silk was not the only commodity that was imported from the eastern end of the road. The exchange of amber, gold, ivory, and exotic animals and plants all brought wealth and prestige to the rulers of the nations that controlled the trade route.
{uniqueroad1_eastern_desc_short}
{uniqueroad1_eastern_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad1_nomad} Râh-e Abrisham (The Silk Road)
{uniqueroad1_nomad_desc}
The Râh-e Abrisham was a vital source of income for many Eastern peoples. Persia and other empires gained exotic treasures and riches from China via the Râh-e Abrisham. Silk, one of the most valuable goods traded on the road, is a wonderful clothing material because, in addition to being attractive and expensive, it is also tough an durable. Silk was not the only commodity that was imported from the eastern end of the road. The exchange of amber, gold, ivory, and exotic animals and plants all brought wealth and prestige to the rulers of the nations that controlled the trade route.
{uniqueroad1_eastern_desc_short}
{uniqueroad1_nomad_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad1_egyptian} Keleuthos Bombykike (The Silk Road)
{uniqueroad1_egyptian_desc}
The Keleuthos Bombykike was a vital source of income for many Eastern peoples. Persia and other empires gained exotic treasures and riches from China via the Keleuthos Bombykike. Silk, one of the most valuable goods traded on the road, is a wonderful clothing material because, in addition to being attractive and expensive, it is also tough an durable. Silk was not the only commodity that was imported from the eastern end of the road. The exchange of amber, gold, ivory, and exotic animals and plants all brought wealth and prestige to the rulers of the nations that controlled the trade route.
{uniqueroad1_egyptian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad1_roman} Avernvs Lacvs (Lake Avernus)
{uniqueroad1_roman_desc}
Avernus Lacus - A long extinct volcano in Campania, between Cumae and the Gulf of Baiae, is the home of one of the most unique and forboding sites in Italy. Lake Avernus fills the crater of the volcano, whose cliffs rise around it in a steep ring and cover its edges with dark and gloomy woods. It was here that the Greeks thought Odysseus had put ashore when he visited the underworld. It was also believed that noxious vapors rose from the lake and killed any creatures approaching it. The vapors were so strong that birds were also thought to suffocate as they flew over it, and it is from this belief that the Greek name of the site, Aornos ("no birds"), was thought to have risen.\n\nIt is exceedingly deep, and the Romans believed it was unfathomable, but there were outlets cut to allow ships to pass from the interior of the crater to Lake Lucrine and to the Gulf of Baiae as well.\n\nThe oracle associated with the lake from its earliest days is linked to the myths surrounding Odysseus' voyage.
{uniqueroad1_roman_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad1_carthaginian} HaMigdalim Sel Herqal (Pillars of Herakles)
{uniqueroad1_carthaginian_desc}
At the end of the world in the west, the Pillars of Herakles stand. According to the Greeks they once were the giant Atlas, who the hero Perseus turned into a mountain by showing him the decapitated head of Medusa.\n\nLater, when Herakles had to perform the twelve labours, one of them was to fetch the Cattle of Geryon and bring it to Eurystheus. On his way to the island of Erytheia he had to cross the mountain that was once Atlas. Herakles wished not to climb the mountain so he split it in half with his mace instead. The chasm that was created went so deep that the oceans west and east of Atlas flowed into eachother and the Pillars were created.\n\nThe Pillars is the only sea route into the Mediterranean from the Great Western Ocean and since the time of Troy ships from Hellas have sailed to the distant Isles of Tin to the far north. The merchant ships still sail between the Pillars and the flow of trade will enrich anyone who controls them.
{uniqueroad1_carthaginian_desc_short}
No description required here.

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{uniqueroad2} None
{uniqueroad2_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad2_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad2_greek} Chrysokeros (The Golden Horn)
{uniqueroad2_greek_desc}
The Golden Horn\n\nWith the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn forms a peninsula with a deep natural harbour perfect for controlling the large numbers of trading vessels there for commerce. On this site, ancient Greeks were the original colonists of the area, founding the city of Byzantion, a great trading center which thrived for millenia. This strategic location was coveted but many cultures throughout the ages.
{uniqueroad2_greek_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad2_egyptian} Ochetos Arabikos (Nile-Red Sea Canal)
{uniqueroad2_egyptian_desc}
After various early attempts to provide a waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, Darius I, the Great Persian King, in about 520 completed and rendered partially navigable the channel, whose earlier path had become blocked. Vessels came down the Pelusaic branch (the easternmost one) and turned up the new canal towards the "Bitter Lakes", though there were still problems and the channels could only be navigated in times of flood. But in about 270, Ptolemy Philadelphus made the canal completely navigable by completing the channel through from the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea. It became a major traffic artery for centuries and did much to encourage trade.
{uniqueroad2_egyptian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad2_barbarian} Mōristoigāz (Marshland Footbridges)
{uniqueroad2_barbarian_desc}
Mōri-stoiġāz\n(MŌ-ri-STOI-ghāz, "Moor-Paths")\n\nBefore the sixth century BC, the peoples living around the northern moors began to develop ways to better construct roadways through the bogs and their unique surroundings. They first levelled out a bed for the road and on two "rails" spaced a certain distance from each other they placed beams, which ran continuously down the roadbed. The planks that ran between the rails had holes drilled in their ends and were fastened by stakes. The surfaces of the boards were then covered with sod to protect the wood itself and seal it off from the elements. The finished product was a road much smoother than a "washboard" road and able to carry heavy traffic across the moors.\n\nA number of these roads crossed moors in the north and provided a more sound foundation for heavy-traffic roads used for industrial purposes, like the one that crossed the Wittemoor from Hude to a tributary of the river Hunte. This particular road connected deposits of sod-ore and the more than 50 smelters found in the location to the river, where it was shipped elsewhere. Their construction also provides evidence that the peoples who built them were sedentary. Much effort and planning took place to construct these roads, certainly not the work of a migrant populace. These roads were at the heighth of their popularity and frequency of construction in the third century BC, when the Wittemoor road was constructed. The use of the roads by other cultures is unknown but somewhat unlikely, and the benefits which the small altars and shrines that were constantly placed beside the roads provided certainly did not extend to other peoples.
{uniqueroad2_barbarian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad2_carthaginian} HaHar HaQados (The Sacred Mountain)
{uniqueroad2_carthaginian_desc}
Considered a sacred site early to the Egyptians, the goddess Hathor was worshipped on her slopes first, and the Semitic workers who mined it eventually came to hold the mountain as sacred. This is the mountain Muslims associated with the "Mountain of the Law", where God made his covenant with the Hebrews and handed down the Tablets of the Law to Moses. The Christian monestary that eventually was founded on the mountain's slope still enclose within their walls a large plant which they refer to as the Burning Bush by which Moses spoke to his God, as well as housing the most ancient library of any in the Christian world.
{uniqueroad2_carthaginian_desc_short}
No description required here.

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{uniqueroad3} None
{uniqueroad3_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad3_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad3_greek} Diolkos (Isthmos Causeway)
{uniqueroad3_greek_desc}
The diolkos was a roadway paved with stones that stretched from the Aigaion to the Korinthian Sea. Goods were unloaded off boats and transferred by carts to the other side, and then the boats themselves were pulled onto a special platform which was then pulled over the isthmus and down to the other gulf.\n\nBuilt in the sixth century BC, it was used up to the ninth century A.D. The diolkos was approximately 3.5-6 meters wide and had grooves 1.5 meters apart that the platform sat in while being pulled. The time saved by going over the isthmus instead of around allowed the Korinthians to make a good profit for transferring the boats. The seas and capes around the Peloponnese were especially dangerous and many traders were happy to use the diolkos and pay the fee rather than run the risk of losing their ship and wares altogtether.\n\nThe diolkos ensures an increase in income for the city from revenues for their service.
{uniqueroad3_greek_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad3_carthaginian} Akroterion Makon (Cape Makai - The Straits of Hormuz)
{uniqueroad3_carthaginian_desc}
The strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. When Alexandros ordered his general Nearchos to sail from India back to the Euphrates, Nearchos recorded the cape thus, "off a barren coast, whence they descried a headland projecting far into the sea ... about a day's sail distant. Persons acquainted with those regions asserted that this cape belonged to Arabia, and was called Maketa, whence cinnamon and other products were exported to the Assyrians."\n\nAlthough the Seleukid kings were interested in and sent expeditions into Arabia, they never established permanent trade routes through the straits.\n\nIt was described in the Periplus of the Erythraian Sea in the 1st century:\n\n"At the upper end of these Calaei islands is a range of mountains called Calon, and there follows not far beyond, the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where there is much diving for the pearl-mussel. To the left of the straits are great mountains called Asabon, and to the right there rises in full view another round and high mountain called Semiramis; between them the passage across the strait is about six hundred stadia; beyond which that very great and broad sea, the Persian Gulf, reaches far into the interior. At the upper end of this Gulf there is a market-town designated by law called Apologus, situated near Charax Spasini and the River Euphrates."
{uniqueroad3_carthaginian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad3_egyptian} Akroterion Hormozon (Cape Hormozoi - Straits of Hormuz)
{uniqueroad3_egyptian_desc}
The strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. When Alexandros ordered his general Nearchos to sail from India back to the Euphrates, Nearchos recorded the cape thus, "off a barren coast, whence they descried a headland projecting far into the sea ... about a day's sail distant. Persons acquainted with those regions asserted that this cape belonged to Arabia, and was called Maketa, whence cinnamon and other products were exported to the Assyrians."\n\nAlthough the Seleukid kings were interested in and sent expeditions into Arabia, they never established permanent trade routes through the straits.\n\nIt was described in the Periplus of the Erythraian Sea in the 1st century:\n\n"At the upper end of these Calaei islands is a range of mountains called Calon, and there follows not far beyond, the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where there is much diving for the pearl-mussel. To the left of the straits are great mountains called Asabon, and to the right there rises in full view another round and high mountain called Semiramis; between them the passage across the strait is about six hundred stadia; beyond which that very great and broad sea, the Persian Gulf, reaches far into the interior. At the upper end of this Gulf there is a market-town designated by law called Apologus, situated near Charax Spasini and the River Euphrates."
{uniqueroad3_egyptian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad3_barbarian} Akroterion Hieron (The Sacred Cape)
{uniqueroad3_barbarian_desc}
Strabo stated that "the Sacred Cape was the most westerly point, not only of Europe but of the whole inhabited world." Although he was wrong about that point, he added that it had been visited before by the geographer Artemidoros and that the surrounding district was called in Latin "Cuneus". Strabo said that you could even hear the noise of the ocean boiling here, when the sun entered the waters to the west each evening. Pliny also mentions the site and had a better understanding of the natural geography of it by his day.\n\nThe cape itself was so holy that there was not even a temple on it, but only a group of stones arranged in the native custom. Visitors to the site, and the knowledge of Strabo and Artemidoros' visit show that there was interest in it from far away, were not allowed there at night as it was considered to be inhabited by the gods. The people who visited spent the night in a neighboring village and went to the site by day, bringing their own water for ritual cleansing and sacrifices, as there was none on the cape itself.
{uniqueroad3_barbarian_desc_short}
No description required here.

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{uniqueroad4} None
{uniqueroad4_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad4_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad4_barbarian} Limios Alsos (The Sacred Grove)
{uniqueroad4_barbarian_desc}
"The Sacred Grove"- The Ślęza - Radunia Complex\n\nThe mountain known today as Ślęża was a holy site for many pagan cultures before advent of Christianity. Because of its unique location as a lonely mountain amidst a vast plain, it was an object of cultic worship since as early as 600 BC. Its two peaks - Ślęża and Radunia - were places of lunar and solar worship for the early native Łużyc (Lusatian) culture. Later sometime around 400 BC, Celts began to settle around the mountain and made it into their religious center there. Called "the Olympus of Silesia" by some, later it would become a center of worship for Germanic tribes also, and eventually too, the West Slavic tribe of the Ślężanie (Silesians), who gave the mountain its current name. There have been reports of neo-paganistic rituals performed atop the mountain as late as the 20th century.\n\nDuring its 6000 year long history of human settlement, most material artifacts were left by unknown Neolithic peoples, including monumental stone sculptures of wild animals, (bear and boar) and humans, as well as stone circles. The later Germanic sanctuary is tentatively identified with the Holy Grove of Limios Alsos, reported by Roman historians.
{uniqueroad4_barbarian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad4_carthaginian} Bab el Mandeb (Red Sea Straits)
{uniqueroad4_carthaginian_desc}
This strait forms the boundary between the Arabikos Kolpos (or the Red Sea) and the main area of the Erythra Thalassa (most of which we now know as the Indian Ocean). It was known by the Hellenes as Deire, the Neck, since on either side of the strait Africa and Arabia come close to one another, and the strait is squeezed between them for several kilometers, creating the appearance of a neck. The Hellenes probably appropriated the name from merchants of the Erythra Thalassa. Herodotos claimed that the straits were crossed by the Egyptian conqueror Sesostris, though modern authorities doubt the Egyptians ever controlled the straits, and debate whether Sesostris existed at all. Most of the traffic around the straits was passing through by sea, rather than moving from Africa to Arabia. Merchant vessels traveling the routes from India to Berenike had to pass through Deire, which developed a reputation for having turbulent waters. However, there were several important trading centers just outside of the straits, and some of these, such as Muza in Arabia, became halfway depots: merchants could travel to these places and back home again, rather than making the entire journey. The nearby port of Adulis, on the African side, was a key site for the ivory trade. The straits, and the mountains running south and west from them in Africa, formed a sort of frontier between Aethiopia and the Far Side of Africa.
{uniqueroad4_carthaginian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad4_egyptian} Megales Pyramides (Great Pyramids of Gizeh)
{uniqueroad4_egyptian_desc}
Designed to last an eternity, these manmade mountains were constructed over many decades by thousands of workers with an astonishing precision. They inspire and amaze all who see them and forever stand as a monument to the genius of the civilization of Aigyptos.\n\nMany other monuments stand in the vast necropolis, including the sphinx, the two temples for the dead pharaohs that are part of each pyramid complex, the many Mastaba tombs of Old Kingdom officials, and the smaller “pyramids of the queens”.\n\nThe three pyramids of Gizeh, build between 2551 and 2471 BC on a desert plateau near the Neilos, were nearly as ancient for the Ptolemaioi and Romaioi as they are for us today. Traditionally the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty (Cheops, Chephren, and Mykerinos) are credited with constructing the pyramids. The great Pyramid of Cheops and the slightly smaller of Pyramid of Chephren are the biggest and most perfect shaped of the over 80 that can be found along the west bank of the Neilos. With original heights of 146.6 and 143.5 meters and side lengths from 230 to 215 meters, they are easily among the largest structures ever built and were the world's tallest buildings for over four millennia. Each pyramid consists of several million multi-ton stone blocks. Until the Middle Ages, their surfaces were covered with polished plain limestone plates that gave them an even more impressive look.
{uniqueroad4_egyptian_desc_short}
No description required here.

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{uniqueroad5} None
{uniqueroad5_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad5_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad5_egyptian} Odos Persike Basilike (Persian Royal Road)
{uniqueroad5_egyptian_desc}
The Persian Royal Road was very ancient. It probably started as the royal road of the Assyrian kings that connected Nineveh to Susa, and might date back in its earliest incarnations to the Hittites of the early second millennium BC. Expanding this system, the Persians relied heavily upon it to connect the heart of their empire with the western world and with a system of rest-stops containing official storehouses and guardposts, as well as the royal couriers who transversed it, the road did greatly enhance the speed and efficiency official business as well as the speed of their armies along it. The Seleukids and even later the Romans used the road to greatly benefit their conquests along it, but even more importantly to maintain their power once they were in control of it. While other royal Persian roads did exist, this particular one undoubtedly had the greatest effect on the ancient world.
{uniqueroad5_egyptian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad5_barbarian} Odos Persike Basilike (Persian Royal Road)
{uniqueroad5_barbarian_desc}
The Persian Royal Road was very ancient. It probably started as the royal road of the Assyrian kings that connected Nineveh to Susa, and might date back in its earliest incarnations to the Hittites of the early second millennium BC. Expanding this system, the Persians relied heavily upon it to connect the heart of their empire with the western world and with a system of rest-stops containing official storehouses and guardposts, as well as the royal couriers who transversed it, the road did greatly enhance the speed and efficiency official business as well as the speed of their armies along it. The Seleukids and even later the Romans used the road to greatly benefit their conquests along it, but even more importantly to maintain their power once they were in control of it. While other royal Persian roads did exist, this particular one undoubtedly had the greatest effect on the ancient world.
{uniqueroad5_barbarian_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad5_eastern} Odos Persike Basilike (Persian Royal Road)
{uniqueroad5_eastern_desc}
The Persian Royal Road was very ancient. It probably started as the royal road of the Assyrian kings that connected Nineveh to Susa, and might date back in its earliest incarnations to the Hittites of the early second millennium BC. Expanding this system, the Persians relied heavily upon it to connect the heart of their empire with the western world and with a system of rest-stops containing official storehouses and guardposts, as well as the royal couriers who transversed it, the road did greatly enhance the speed and efficiency official business as well as the speed of their armies along it. The Seleukids and even later the Romans used the road to greatly benefit their conquests along it, but even more importantly to maintain their power once they were in control of it. While other royal Persian roads did exist, this particular one undoubtedly had the greatest effect on the ancient world.
{uniqueroad5_eastern_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad5_carthaginian} Midbar (Desert)
{uniqueroad5_carthaginian_desc}
Much of this province consists of a sandy desert. It restricts any permanent roads from being constructed across it and prohibits many types of farming structures and other buildings from being built in it. Trade penalties will apply (though they may be seen in the description as bonuses because of RTW's inability to show negative "bonuses").
{uniqueroad5_carthaginian_desc_short}
No description required here.

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{uniqueroad6} None
{uniqueroad6_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad6_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad6_germans} Glēsowegoz (The Amber Route)
{uniqueroad6_germans_desc}
Ġlēso-weġoz\n(GhLĒ-so-WE-ghoz, "Amber Road")\n\nAmber was first sought after for use in figurines, jewelry, etc. as early as ten thousand years ago. Magical properties were attributed to the substance and a wide trade for it soon spread throughout Europe and towards the Black Sea. Amber from the Baltic Sea was especially abundant and brought much trade in from its export. Fishermen brought in the amber and it was processed in workshops befor being sent south. The Celts and the Hellenes were especially fond of the substance, and the Romans soon developed a voracious appetite for it as well.\n\nThe earliest great route to the south went to the Danube and then made its way down it by ship to coast of the Euxine Sea, where it was distributed by seamerchents throughout the Euxine, Aegean, and Mediterranean. Later the chief route changed when Roman demand surpassed that of the Euxine route. Instead of following the Danube it turned towards the Adriatic Sea where the sea trade spread it throughout the Mediterranean.\n\nThe Amber Route brought increased trade into the provinces through which it passed and the increase in luxury goods also increased the luxury goods available to the inhabitants.
{uniqueroad6_germans_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad6_dacia} Elektrine Keleuthos (The Amber Route)
{uniqueroad6_dacia_desc}
Amber was first sought after for use in figurines, jewelry, etc. as early as ten thousand years ago. Magical properties were attributed to the substance and a wide trade for it soon spread throughout Europe and towards the Black Sea. Amber from the Baltic Sea was especially abundant and brought much trade in from its export. Fishermen brought in the amber and it was processed in workshops befor being sent south. The Celts and the Hellenes were especially fond of the substance, and the Romans soon developed a voracious appetite for it as well.\n\nThe earliest great route to the south went to the Danube and then made its way down it by ship to coast of the Euxine Sea, where it was distributed by seamerchents throughout the Euxine, Aegean, and Mediterranean. Later the chief route changed when Roman demand surpassed that of the Euxine route. Instead of following the Danube it turned towards the Adriatic Sea where the sea trade spread it throughout the Mediterranean.\n\nThe Amber Route brought increased trade into the provinces through which it passed and the increase in luxury goods also increased the luxury goods available to the inhabitants.
{uniqueroad6_dacia_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad6_gauls} Barrocandoa (The Amber Route)
{uniqueroad6_gauls_desc}
Amber was first sought after for use in figurines, jewelry, etc. as early as ten thousand years ago. Magical properties were attributed to the substance and a wide trade for it soon spread throughout Europe and towards the Black Sea. Amber from the Baltic Sea was especially abundant and brought much trade in from its export. Fishermen brought in the amber and it was processed in workshops befor being sent south. The Celts and the Hellenes were especially fond of the substance, and the Romans soon developed a voracious appetite for it as well.\n\nThe earliest great route to the south went to the Danube and then made its way down it by ship to coast of the Euxine Sea, where it was distributed by seamerchents throughout the Euxine, Aegean, and Mediterranean. Later the chief route changed when Roman demand surpassed that of the Euxine route. Instead of following the Danube it turned towards the Adriatic Sea where the sea trade spread it throughout the Mediterranean.\n\nThe Amber Route brought increased trade into the provinces through which it passed and the increase in luxury goods also increased the luxury goods available to the inhabitants.
{uniqueroad6_gauls_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad6_scythia} Barrocandoa (The Amber Route)
{uniqueroad6_scythia_desc}
Amber was first sought after for use in figurines, jewelry, etc. as early as ten thousand years ago. Magical properties were attributed to the substance and a wide trade for it soon spread throughout Europe and towards the Black Sea. Amber from the Baltic Sea was especially abundant and brought much trade in from its export. Fishermen brought in the amber and it was processed in workshops befor being sent south. The Celts and the Hellenes were especially fond of the substance, and the Romans soon developed a voracious appetite for it as well.\n\nThe earliest great route to the south went to the Danube and then made its way down it by ship to coast of the Euxine Sea, where it was distributed by seamerchents throughout the Euxine, Aegean, and Mediterranean. Later the chief route changed when Roman demand surpassed that of the Euxine route. Instead of following the Danube it turned towards the Adriatic Sea where the sea trade spread it throughout the Mediterranean.\n\nThe Amber Route brought increased trade into the provinces through which it passed and the increase in luxury goods also increased the luxury goods available to the inhabitants.
{uniqueroad6_scythia_desc_short}
No description required here.

{uniqueroad6_greek} Elektrine Keleuthos (The Amber Route)
{uniqueroad6_greek_desc}
Amber was first sought after for use in figurines, jewelry, etc. as early as ten thousand years ago. Magical properties were attributed to the substance and a wide trade for it soon spread throughout Europe and towards the Black Sea. Amber from the Baltic Sea was especially abundant and brought much trade in from its export. Fishermen brought in the amber and it was processed in workshops befor being sent south. The Celts and the Hellenes were especially fond of the substance, and the Romans soon developed a voracious appetite for it as well.\n\nThe earliest great route to the south went to the Danube and then made its way down it by ship to coast of the Euxine Sea, where it was distributed by seamerchents throughout the Euxine, Aegean, and Mediterranean. Later the chief route changed when Roman demand surpassed that of the Euxine route. Instead of following the Danube it turned towards the Adriatic Sea where the sea trade spread it throughout the Mediterranean.\n\nThe Amber Route brought increased trade into the provinces through which it passed and the increase in luxury goods also increased the luxury goods available to the inhabitants.
{uniqueroad6_greek_desc_short}
No description required here.

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{uniqueroad7} None
{uniqueroad7_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad7_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad7_egyptian} (Border Trade Resource)
{uniqueroad7_egyptian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Sind received much trade by land and by sea with its neighbors further east. It has a bonus of 3 added to its trade base income.
{uniqueroad7_egyptian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

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{uniqueroad8} None
{uniqueroad8_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad8_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad8_egyptian} (Border Trade Resource)
{uniqueroad8_egyptian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe provinces of Sattagydia received a good deal of trade with provinces to the east, and Kush received a good deal of trade by land with its neighbors further south along the Neilos River and across other inland borders. They both have bonuses of 2 added to their trade base income.
{uniqueroad8_egyptian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad8_nomad} (Border Trade Resource)
{uniqueroad8_nomad_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Xiyu received a good deal of trade by land with its neighbors further east. It has a bonus of 2 added to its trade base income.
{uniqueroad8_nomad_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad8_carthaginian} Mis'har 'Abor Gbulot (Border Trade Resource)
{uniqueroad8_carthaginian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Mauretania received much trade by land and by sea with its neighbors further south along the west African coast. It has a bonus of 2 added to its trade base income.
{uniqueroad8_carthaginian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

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{uniqueroad9} None
{uniqueroad9_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{uniqueroad9_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{uniqueroad9_egyptian} (Border Trade Resource)
{uniqueroad9_egyptian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Gandhara received some trade by land with its neighbors further east. It has a bonus of 1 added to its trade base income.
{uniqueroad9_egyptian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threeone} ThreeOne
{threeone_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threeone_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threeone_greek} Troia (The Site of Troy)
{threeone_greek_desc}
In our day, a small town still sits atop the mighty citadel of Troy, though it is only the memory of the city's former glory and the deeds performed around its great walls that keeps the current town important. Alexander himself visited Troy, sacrificed to Athena in her temple atop the citadel, and poured libations to the heroes. He took part in a race naked with his companions around the tomb of Achilles and deposited crowns. The armor of Achilles was still kept there, and Alexander took it with him on his eastern campaigns, replacing it with his own armor. Many other visitors over the centuries made the voyage to sacred Ilion, made their dedications and paid their respects, and many saw armor the locals still claimed was that of Achilles. The romanEmperor Caracalla even visited and imitated Alexander's race much later.\n\nSTRATEGY: Trade bonus, Morale bonus to new recruits, Public order bonus due to happiness: 5%
{threeone_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the citadel of Troy.

{threeone_egyptian} Ereipia Babyloniaka (The Ruins of Babylon)
{threeone_egyptian_desc}
Babylon was an extremely ancient and influential city, built upon the Euphrates, divided in equal parts among its left and right banks with steep embankments built to contain the river's seasonal floods. Destroyed and rebuilt several times, it was controlled by multiple rising empires and became one herself more than once. The city was built before the 24th Century and was the Hammurabi´s Empire Capital that controlled vast kingdoms around it. But eventually it fell under the control of the Assyrian Empire, one of its former dependent states, from which it rebelled frequently. As a result of yet another revolt, king Sennacherib sieged and destroyed the city in 689 BC, its walls, temples, and palaces were razed to the ground and the rubbish thrown into the Arakhtu, the canal which bordered the earlier Babylon on the south. Its sucessor promptly rebuilt the city fearing the clergy, crowned itself there and made it its residence for part of the year. Although it was sacked again later, it recovered its independance after the fall of the Assyrian Empire and became once again major power under Nebuchadnezzar who was responsible for the rebuilding of Etemanaki temple and the construction of the Ishtar Gate and the Hanging Gardens. After passing through various vicissitudes the city was occupied in 538 BC by Kyros the Great, king of Persia. Under him, and his heir Darius I, Babylon became a center of learning and scientific advancement. However, by the reign of Darius III, Babylon began to stagnate and was occupied by the Makedonians when the Persian king was defeated at Gaugamela by the forces of Alexandros.\n\nUnder Alexandros, Babylon again flourished as a center of learning and commerce. After Alexander's death, his empire desintegrated, and fighting soon began with Babylon once again caught in the middle. The constant state of war emptied the city and by 275 B..C the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to Seleukia. With this event the history of Babylon comes practically to an end, though more than a century later it was found that sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary.
{threeone_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the enormous ruins of the old city of Babylon.

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{threetwo} ThreeTwo
{threetwo_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threetwo_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threetwo_roman} (Paestum Temples)
{threetwo_roman_desc}
The great temples of the Graeci built at Paestum are by our times somewhat ancient. But we care for them now and the goddesses worshipped by the Graeci here are our gods as well.\n\nThe largest of the temples at Paestum are found in a sanctuary sacred to Juno (Hera). The oldest one was constructed in the middle of the 6th century BC and is of the older Doric order. It did not contain sculptural elements though on its friezes or metopes. The cella is divided into two aisles by a row of columns down the middle; in the old days it was often safer to put the columns down the middle and not risk structural problems, but it did obscure the statue at the rear of the cella. The other great temple in the sanctuary is dedicated to Juno also and was built in the middle of the 5th century BC. It is a much more refined structure of course. Six other small temples surround the area, all dedicated to the fertility aspects of Juno, also known as Hera Argiva. There is also a prominent temple of Concord found here that was begun by our people just last year (in 273 BC). The other large sanctuary here is dedicated to Minerva (Athena), and it has a great temple also. Although it is Doric, it does have Ionic columns in places though.\n\nSTRATEGY: Public order bonus due to happiness: 5%, Morale bonus to new recruits for Epeiros, the Koinon Hellenon, and Makedonia.
{threetwo_roman_desc_short}
You have repaired the damage at the great Greek temples at Paestum.

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{threethree} ThreeThree
{threethree_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threethree_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threethree_egyptian} Ammonion (Oracle of Zeus-Ammon)
{threethree_egyptian_desc}
This oracle was one of the most important oracles in the Hellenistic world. Introduced to the rest of the Greek world through its promotion by Kyrene, and used on their coins as early as the fifth century, the worship of Zeus-Ammon spread to Athens in the fourth century. Plutarch claims that notables such as Kimon, Lysander, Alkibiades, and Nikias all consulted the oracle. But it was the visit of Megas Alexandros in 331, after his victory at Issus, that caught the ancient imagination. The priests acknowledged that Zeus was the father of Alexandros, and it was from this point that the young king's supposed divinity began to greatly aid him in his eastern conquests; however, it is also the point at which delusions of that same divinity slowly began to interfere with his ability to rule his expanding empire.
{threethree_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at one of the most famous oracles of the ancient world, the Oracle of Zeus-Ammon.

{threethree_carthaginian} Mahram Bilqis (Temple of the Moon God)
{threethree_carthaginian_desc}
The Mahram Bilqis, or Sanctuary of Bilqis (the Sabaean Moon God) is one of the most famous sites in all of Arabia. The temple itself is a huge oval nearly a thousand feet around, with a large columned hall to the north that served as the entrance to the temple. Like many south Arabian temples, it is located well outside the walls of the nearest city. Much of the temple complex remains unexcavated today, but many dedications and statues were found in the large entrance court, and the exterior of the enclosure wall is covered with dedicatory inscriptions relating to their construction. These inscriptions date from the seventh to mid-fifth centuries BC and they seem to have been funded by various Sabaean sovereigns.
{threethree_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the great Temple of the Moon God.

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{threefour} ThreeFour
{threefour_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threefour_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threefour_barbarian} Ogmioteriam Odemorix (The Great Gallic Council)
{threefour_barbarian_desc}
The Council of Speakers, Electors, and Kings - The Ogmioteriam Odemorix was the site of the Great Gallic Council. This Council was held annually (or in extreme cases where an emergency / necessity dictated) in the land of the Carnutes (the religious centre of Gaul) during the season of Beltaine.\n\nThe Council enabled the Gallic peoples to come together in peace to communicate, engage in inter-tribal / state diplomacy, settle grievances and debts, marry and celebrate the festivities and games of Beltaine.\n\nIt also provided an opportunity for regional Druidic Magistrates to be able to come together to revise Gallic law and provide a High Court of appeal for any cases that required it.\n\nAll attendees were expected to keep this peace which was enforced by the authoritive words of the Druids and the weapons of the Carnute warriors. The later taking great pride in their prominent position amongst the tribes.
{threefour_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Ogmioteriam Odemorix, the site of the Great Gallic Council.

{threefour_egyptian} Siva Mandir (Indian Temple of Siva)
{threefour_egyptian_desc}
This great parasol-shaped temple, built to honor the Lord Siva, was an incredible feat of architecture. Construction involved giant dirt and log ramps that spiraled to the top where the temple received its final components. The temple was not only very large, it was also lavishly adorned. It was painted in a stunning display of color that covered nearly every inch of its interior and exterior from its base to the tip of its majestic tower.\n\nThe ancient Indians believed that Siva was a late evolution of the great Ishvara, one of the earliest Hindu creator deities - and one of the last to ever be perceived as a single ruler. Siva later came to be associated with Brahma and Vishnu, departing from older perceptions as a purifier and even a creator, to adopt what would eventually become his nearly universal perception as the destroyer component of the 'Trimurti.'\n\nIt was during the period of frenzied political activity in the East that followed Alexander's departure and subsequent death that Siva and other deities enjoyed a financial resurgence, their worship being expanded in Gandhara by the great conqueror's lieutenants Ambhi (the Indian ruler of Takshaçila prior to Alexander's conquests), the Thracian Eudamus, and in the South by the Mauryan kings. Lord Siva became most revered in the Indian northwest, enjoying extensive worship during the periods of Mauryan expansion into Gandhara and during the rule of the Euthydemid Greeks. Especially strong in Taxila (Takshaçila to the Hindus), the worship of Siva very frequently shifted along various culture lines. The Greeks equated Siva with Dionysos, while native Baktrians and Kambojas associated many “mountain gods” with him.
{threefour_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the great Indian Temple of Siva in this province.

{threefour_nomad} Sauromatae I Khashaya Nygad Kuybyrtae (Sarmatian Royal Tombs)
{threefour_nomad_desc}
The Sauromatae followed their Scythian predecessors by entombing their great leaders in grand kurgans. The Sauromatae, for much of their early history were never as rich as the Scythians, and their tombs reflect this. Even so, fine weapons decorated with gold and intricate armor is entombed with the great warrior who used them. Unlike the Scythians, the Sauromatae did not bury the horses with their masters.\n\nThe Sauromatae, like many Iranian nomads, view their ancestor's tombs as very special sites. Tribesmen are inspired by this reminder of their past, and look more favorably upon the current Sauromatae King for continuing their proud heritage. But any enemy trying to invade their ancestral lands will find a harsh response, despite nomad's normally fluid ways.
{threefour_nomad_desc_short}
You have repaired the tombs of the great leaders of the Sauromatae.

{threefour_greek} Skuda I Khashaya Nygad Kuybyrtae (Skythian Royal Tombs)
{threefour_greek_desc}
The Scythians, like many other steppe nomads after them, entombed their leaders in grand kurgans, high barrows heaped over chamber-tombs of larch-wood. The deceased is laden with wonderfully rich arms and armor, in addition to their horses. Goods traded and taken in raids from far off places show the accomplishments of his life. These kurgans, on the right bank of the Dnieper, are particularly important with many great Kings entombed there.\n\nIn Herodotus' narrative of the Achaemenid invasion of Scythia, Darius I accuses the Scythian king Idanthyrsus of not facing him in battle and just fleeing while harassing the Persians. Idanthyrsus replies that Darius should try to find the tombs of his ancestors and try to destroy them if he wants to bring the Scythians to fight. Despite the Scythian's decline in power, the Scythians still hold the resting grounds of their fore fathers in great regard. Scythians would fight long and hard against any enemy that tries and takes their ancestor's tombs, even their fellow nomads.
{threefour_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the high barrows of the deceased Skythian kings.

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{threefive} ThreeFive
{threefive_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threefive_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threefive_barbarian} Laxuz Xoilogoz (The Holy Lake)
{threefive_barbarian_desc}
Laχuz χoiloġoz\n(LA-khuz KhOI-lo-ghoz, "Lake of Luck granted by the gods")\n\nLocated in the lands of the Xathjōzez (Chatti) is one of the most important sanctuary of the Germanic tribes in Central Europe. Here a large natural lake developed, because of salt-emaciations in the earth. In this event the Germanic tribes who lived nearby probably saw the hand of gods at work. In the course of several centuries they repeatedly established several sanctuaries near the edges of this lake. At those sites different gods were praised and many gifts were brought. Circular altar places, numerous utensils and seaweeds, wooden figures and idols, as well as the remains of human and animal sacrifices have been discovered in excavations. Adored among other gods were Wāthonoz- god of wisdom and the slain in battle, Nerthuz- earth mother and goddess of fertility, and Deiwoz- god of noble battle and justice. Also many weapons of Roman and Celtic design have been found here, since it was often customary for Germanic warriors to not only take the life of their enemies but also truly sacrifice something of value achieved through the gods' blessing such as their well-crafted war-gear.
{threefive_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Holy Lake in the lands of the Xathjōzez.

{threefive_egyptian} Ho Taphos Tou Megalou Alexandrou (Tomb of Megas Alexandros)
{threefive_egyptian_desc}
Upon his death in 323 BC, the body of Alexandros was prepared for transport to and burial at the Oasis of Siwa, the Ammonion, as per his wishes, and to the dismay of his Makedonian soldiers and companions.\n\nPerdikkas, however, decided to take the body back to Aigai for burial, and prepared what has been thought to be the most elaborate funerary cart in history. But Ptolemaios organized an attack upon the funeral procession and seized the body, which he took to Memphis where it was entombed in the traditional Aigyptian style. Ptolemaios II moved the body to Alexandreia, where a cult was started around the tomb, not uncommon for a city's founder.\n\nThe tomb itself became an international tourist destination, especially of famous individuals. The golden sarcophagus was replaced with a glass one at one point, and visitors such as Strabo, Diodoros, Julius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, Caligula, Caracalla, and even Augustus, who in leaning over to kiss Alexandros, accidently broke the great one's nose off.\n\nThe tomb was closed by Septimus Severus who was nervous about the safety of the body under the masses of tourists who visited it constantly.
{threefive_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Tomb of Megas Alexandros.

{threefive_greek} Asklepeion of Kos
{threefive_greek_desc}
Temporary Description
{threefive_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Asklepeion of Kos.

{threefive_carthaginian} HaMiqdasim Ha'Attiqim Sel Malta (Megalithic Maltese Temples)
{threefive_carthaginian_desc}
The ancient neolithic temples and monuments of Malta are the earliest monumental structures in ancient Europe. Most prominent of all archaeological wonders of Malta is the Hypogeum, an enormous underground temple constructed sometime around 2400 BC. There are three levels hewn from the solid rock with an oracular shrine and a complex series of chambers and tombs. The original builders did not last long in the area, but the site itself was not abandoned and houses the bodies of around 7,000 persons who have been buried there through the millennia. But on this small island are the gigantic remains of many other temples dating from the third millenium BC. Megalithic wonders at Hagar Qim, Ggantija, Mnajdra, and Tarxien dwarf many classical temples, and are a thousand years older than the pyramids at Giza and all carved and constructed without the use of any metal tools.\n\nThe native inhabitants were friendly and cooperative with the Phoenician and Qarthadasti settlers, and some Hellenistic architectural elements were incorporated into the temples in the third century, though Hellenism itself was not as widely incorporated there. By 272 BC, the thoroughly Punic beliefs, customs, and manners of the native Maltese made them much more hostile to the Romans.
{threefive_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the most ancient Megalithic Temples of Malta.

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{threesix} ThreeSix
{threesix_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threesix_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threesix_barbarian} Nerthu Weixo (The Forbidden Shrine of Nerthuz)
{threesix_barbarian_desc}
Nerþu Weiχo\n(NER-thu WEI-kho, "Remote fear/awe-inspiring Holiness of Nerthuz," the Taboo Shrine to Nerthuz)\n\nSeveral Germanic tribes along the Baltic Sea coast participated in one of the best known of all Germanic rituals once a year. A sacred grove was located on a holy island in the sea ("in insula Oceani" as Tacitus says). The focus of the ritual was on a procession drawn by sacred cows in a consecrated wagon, covered by an embroidered drape to purposely hide the holy contents from view; the activities were closely associated with fertility and harvest rituals, as Nerthuz was thought to be the Earth herself, Mother in divine form. A priest "husband to Nerthuz" was the only person allowed to touch the wagon- representing the fruitful sanctity of the bonds marriage. He was aware of the presence of the goddess and accompanied the driverless vehicle in reverence as the cows pulled her away in any direction thought to be her desire. The procession went on a tour "through the world of mortals" and then returned to the sacred precinct, where secluded, the wagon and its contents inside, idols and goddess underwent a ritual ablution in the lake. Afterwards the slaves who had ministered to it all, having seen and touched that which is forbidden, must be drowned and swallowed by the lake.\n\nDuring the ceremonies, which took place at a certain time every year, all the members of the tribes of like blood that came together for the event and entered the sanctuary first were bound, in a representation of human inferiority and godly power. And no one was allowed to take arms with them to the events. It was the only such time that peace and quiet between the tribes was mandated, and often served as a meeting place for the discussion of religious and political matters. Thus under the auspices of a religious blessing, many alliances were formed during these meetings.
{threesix_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Forbidden Shrine of Nerthuz, a sacred grove on an island in the sea.

{threesix_carthaginian} HaNamal WeHa'Homot Sel Qarthadast (The Port and Walls of Carthage)
{threesix_carthaginian_desc}
Four huge and powerful structures in the magnificent city of Qarthadast stood as examples of Qarthadasti might: the temple districts of Ba'al and Astarot, the harbor, and the triple wall. \n\nThe circular harbor was a wonder in and of itself. This marvel of engineering allowed Qarthadasti fleets to better prepare and equip themselves than the harbors of their rivals. The port was even capable of having a second exit away from its circular main entrance that was concealed. This was used to effect during the Punic wars when the Romans blockaded the mouth of the harbor. Archaeological evidence supports the existence of the famous circular port with its center island but also points to existence of dozens of ports along the part of the shore occupied by Qarthadast. This was truly a city built for massive trade capability as well as being able to house, maintain, and effectively crew and launch a large fleet of warships. \n\nThe final wonder was Qarthadast's massive triple wall. According to many ancient historians, this defense system could comfortably house 19,000 troops, several thousand horses, and over seventy elephants within its massive structure. The original account of the wall claims that all three walls were the same hight. However, both other, more detailed, accounts and archaeological evidence points to the three walls being a massive stone wall, a smaller stone or wood wall, and a trench. This would have prevented just as much of an obstacle to attackers and would have doubled as a two layered defense so that multiple missile forces could engage the enemy at the same time from the relative safety of the walls without having to shoot through their comrades.
{threesix_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the waterfront of Qart-Hadast and along the triple walls of the city.

{threesix_egyptian} Gebel Barkal (Pyramids of Gebel Barkal)
{threesix_egyptian_desc}
A holy site long before its development, the hill of Gebel Barkal encompassed nine known temples and a field of pyramids which were part of the royal Naptan-Meroitic cemetery. The Napatan pyramids do not house their deceased kings, but instead are commemorative monuments to the deceased who are buryed in hypogea underneath. The small temples before each pyramid house the offerings. The hill also contains several palaces, administrative complexes, and other temples, the biggest of which is dedicated to the god Ammon. The area remains sacred to the local peoples even today.
{threesix_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Napatan pyramids, the most holy site for the peoples of Meroe, sacred places even to local peoples today.

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{threeseven} ThreeSeven
{threeseven_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threeseven_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threeseven_egyptian} Pasargadai (Pasargadai and Tomb of Kyros)
{threeseven_egyptian_desc}
The Old Persian Capital, Tomb of the Dynast Founder\n\n"O man, I am Kyros son of Kambyses, who founded the empire of Persia and ruled over Asia. Do not grudge me my monument." When Alexandros found the monument he showed great respect and ordered the vandalism done to it and the body of Kyros himself repaired as a sign of his assumption of the Persian throne. Plutarchos visited it also. It was a site revered by the Persians and sat among the ruins of Pasargadai, the original capital of the Persian Empire. It brought travelers from near and far and though it was smaller and older than the marvelous ruins at Persepolis, it was a site that inspired much respect from the Persians as well as the Hellenes.
{threeseven_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at Pasargadai, the first Persian capital and the tomb of Kyros the Great, the founder of the dynasty.

{threeseven_barbarian} Foreign Sea-Trade Post
{threeseven_barbarian_desc}
This is a Greek or Punic trading post. Bonuses are given to barbarian factions only, who allow these posts to exist to trade with Qarthadastim and Hellenes.
{threeseven_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of this Foreign Sea-Trade Post

{threeseven_greek} Foreign Sea-Trade Post
{threeseven_greek_desc}
This is a Greek or Punic trading post. Bonuses are given to barbarian factions only, who allow these posts to exist to trade with Qarthadastim and Hellenes.
{threeseven_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at this Foreign Sea-Trade Post

{threeseven_carthaginian} Ta'hanat S'hora Zarit (Foreign Sea-Trade Post)
{threeseven_carthaginian_desc}
This is a Greek or Punic trading post. Bonuses are given to barbarian factions only, who allow these posts to exist to trade with Qarthadastim and Hellenes.
{threeseven_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at this Foreign Sea-Trade Post

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{threeeight} ThreeEight
{threeeight_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threeeight_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threeeight_barbarian} Drunemeton
{threeeight_barbarian_desc}
In the territories of the Galatians in Anatolia, their three tribes, the Tectosages, the Tolistobogii, and the Trocmi, live as a well-entrenched ruling class, with the first occupying Ancyra in the region's heartland, the second Pessinus in the West, and the third Tavium in the East. These three tribes are divided into four clans, each with an elder and a judge, whose powers were unlimited in all but murder cases - which were tried by a council of 300 other Galatians, drawn equally from each clan. To try these cases, as well as discuss matters of state policy, the council was collected and met with the clan leaders at a sacred oak grove. This meeting place was the Drynemeton, meaning "temple of the oaks," near the Tectosage capital at Ankyra (it would later become a shrine to the great Galatian ruler Deiotarus). Here these delegates would discuss issues of local and national importance, including the levying of tribute from their non-Galatian citizenry and the wars of the various dynasts outside their territory - or even those who might come to rule it.
{threeeight_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the most famous and visited pilgrimage site in the Arabian peninsula, the Ka'bah.

{threeeight_carthaginian} Ka'bah (Ka'bah at Mecca)
{threeeight_carthaginian_desc}
All the diverse tribes of Arabia took part in a great pilgrimage to the Ka'bah at Mecca. Such journeys were possible only when peace reigned throughout the land. To ensure this, all tribes prohibited internal warfare during the period from the month before the pilgrimage to the month after. Sacred territory meant that the tribes expected pilgrims to lay aside their weapons upon reaching Mecca. Once they entered the holy territory pilgrims were expected to practice self-denial and abstain from hunting, fighting, and sexual intercourse, amongst other things.\n\nAt the center of a month-long religious ceremony was the Ka'bah, where pilgrims worshipped a myriad of pre-Islamic gods. The Ka'bah itself consisted of a simple, cube-like stone structure with a black stone embedded in one of the walls that was supposedly of meteoric origin. Inside the Ka'bah sat a statue of the god Hubal, a small pit for offering, and statues of numerous other gods worshipped by various Arabic tribes.\n\nThe existence of the Kah'bah as a holy place to all Arabs seems to date to at least the early 1st century BC. Diodoros of Sicily remarks that “a temple has been set-up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians.” While he doesn't mention the Ka'bah by name, it is the only known place in Arabia to fit such criteria. Further, such use of the Ka'bah in the early 1st century BC seems to justify its importance to pre-Islamic Arabians such as the Sabeans.
{threeeight_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the most famous and visited pilgrimage site in the Arabian peninsula, the Ka'bah.

{threeeight_egyptian} Mega Agalma Anaitidos (Great Cult Statue of Anahita)
{threeeight_egyptian_desc}
According to the chronicles of Berossos of Babylon and other historians, in the prosperous years after his violent rise to power, the Persian King Artaxerxes II initiated rich building projects all across the Persian Empire. Among the structures erected by his order, was a great cult statue of Anahita in Baktra, the capital of the vast and wealthy Baktrian Satrapy. Anahita, in the Zoroastrian tradition so strong in Baktria (Zoroaster himself lived and died in Baktra itself), was a great goddess of water and purity, and her cult was very popular in the far East, particularly along the banks of the Oxus River. In the same fashion as older Western cults, the statue built by Artaxerxes, known for the great skill of its execution (many traditions recall how beautifully it captured her image; her crown of sunbeams and cloak of otter furs), became a favorite gathering place of her local worshippers, and its precincts rapidly turned into the site of vast cult gatherings.
{threeeight_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the great cult statue of Anahita.

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{threenine} ThreeNine
{threenine_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{threenine_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{threenine_barbarian} Cairnaichaeoriam (The Place of Many Stones)
{threenine_barbarian_desc}
The Place of Many Stones (later known as "Carnac") this giant site of megalithic monuments spreads five miles, its initial purpose unknown. It includes menhir (standing stones), dolmens (a sepulture formed of several stones), cromlech (enclosures of menhir), and tumulus (dirt mounds over Dolmens with no entrance). Much of it may be a star chart related to the religion of the unknown builders, who may have built tombs and graves in alignment with certain stars. Several relics indicate some manner of Celtic worship at the stones, even though the Celts did not arrange them. The Gauls (and later the Bretons) venerated the site, developing their own stories for the stones' placement and existence.\n\nSTRATEGY: Carnac provides an additional law bonus when possessed by the Aedui.
{threenine_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired Cairnaichaeoriam (Carnac).

{threenine_eastern} Shamiram-su (The Great Canal of Menua)
{threenine_eastern_desc}
'By the will of Khaldi, Menua, son of Ishpuini, has built this canal. This canal is named the Menua Canal. Menua is the powerful, the great king, King of Biaina, Prince of the city of Tushpa; Menua speaks in the name of the dread Khaldi: Whosoever damages this incription, whosoever overturns it, whosoever does such things according to his own desire or in the name of another, Menua warns that the dread god Khaldi, the god Teisheba and the Sun god Shivini will efface him from the sight of the sun.'\n\nIn the heart of the most ancient part of Hayasdan called Hayots-Dzor (Valley of the Armenians) this canal runs from a generous spring in the foot-hills of the Armenian mountains, through the city of Tushpa (modern day Van) and into Lake Van, travelling some 45 miles to do so. It was responsible for watering an extensive and very rich region of Urartu, and so much was it needed by the people of that land that even today it runs with the same life-bringing water that it did almost 3000 years ago when it was first built.\n\nShamiram-su (the modern name) was originally part of a massive construction project set by King Menua of Urartu during his reign from 810 to 785 BCE. Menua was a king riding upon the successes of earlier monarchs and it was he who began many of the extensive military and public works that supported Urartu in its continuing war against Assyria. King Menua, as the inscription quote above lays claim to, built the Shamiram-su to irrigate the lands around Van and the great city itself, but it was not the only one. Many canals had been built around Lake Van, to support larger populations and irrigate larger amounts of land; these regions were so fertile, supported by these canals, that they became the great granaries of the Urartian kingdom (and the later Kingdom of Hayasdan), whose grain production was able to support the many armies needed to make war on the great enemy, Assyria.\n\nShamiram-su, named after Queen Shamiram (or Shammu-ramat) or Assyria - though as the inscription maintains this was a later name and the canal was originally named after King Menua - was of such magnitude that it was 'as abundant as the Euphrates'; for just as the Euphrates was 'queen among rivers', Shamiram-su was 'the queen among canals'. Even today, the canal flows at the rate of 1500-3000 litres per second, and would have been able to support a population of 50,000 in Van, not to mention the extensive farmland in the region around it. Van itself became a city of gardens under the reign of Menua thanks to the waters of Shamiram-su, and he himself was responsible for the planting of many trees and the design of many gardens - it almost brings to mind images of the most fertile of Mesopotamian cities, Babylon.\n\nThe Vannic region was greatly enriched by both the city of Van and the canal of Menua that supported it, and much trade and many peoples were and are supported by these two ancient sites of wonder and magnificence.
{threenine_eastern_desc_short}
The canal of Menua has been repaired and this region will be bountiful and produce much trade and grain for the benefit of its people.

{threenine_carthaginian} (Garamante Royal Cemetry)
{threenine_carthaginian_desc}
The pyramid and mastaba tombs of the growing royal cemeteries are located among tens of thousands of graves in the heart of their kingdom. The characteristic Steles often placed near the tombs, looking like a four fingered hand, reminds the Garamantes of their people's ancient heritage that can be traced back almost a thousand years. Viewing them makes the warriors aware of their own people's achievements and their ancient claims on this land, that they do not have to hide behind the Mediterranean cities and their inhabitants, making them more eager to respect the traditional social structure and defend their land against any invader.\n\nThe extensive cemeteries that cover the hangs and fringes of the inhabited Wadis are the most visible remnants of the Garamantes' civilization today. They are estimated to contain several hundred thousand tombs, mostly the small narrow stone mounds of the ordinary people, but also mud brick pyramids, mastabas and later similar stone monuments and small mausoleums as in contemporary roman northern Africa.\n\nHistorically, the Garamantes were Berber speaking Libyan people that used their own script, probably based on Punic, whose derivate is still in use today in central Sahara. The oasis's of modern Fezzan, the region around their capital Garama formed the heart of their kingdom that also stretched a considerable distance into the south, at least temporarily. It controlled a large part of the limited trans Saharan trade of the era and exported precious stone produced in their own lands. Although the standards of living and technology were low compared to the Mediterranean cities the Garamantes managed to vastly increase the output of their agriculture, after 200 BC, by creating an extended irrigation network based upon the mining of fossil water, a leftover from less dry periods of Sahara. It allowed them to maintain a large population for Saharan standards.\n\nThe roots of the Garamante kingdom and the history of their tribe can be dated back as early as 1000 BC. The early Greek historian Herodotus first mentioned the Garamantes in 4th century BC as a numerous people of desert farmers and cattle herders that hunted troglodyte (cave dwellers) Ethiopians, probably inhabiting the Tibesti range in the south with their four horse chariots. Largely ignored by the Hellenistic world they appear next time in the spotlight of history in Augustan times. In the last decades of the 1st century BC and the final years of Augustus reign, roman forces conducted several campaigns in the fringes of the Sahara to secure the empire's southern border and enlarge control over the major trade routes in the area. Most notably Cornelius Balbus captured Cydamus, marched his army through the desert to Garama and temporarily occupied a larger number of Saharan settlements in 21/20 BC. Later the Garamantes supported the Numidian rebel Tacfarinas, but were pardoned for this in Roma after he was defeated in 24 AD. After a last clash with roman forces 70 AD when they supported Oea in an inner tripolitanian conflict with Leptis Magna, relations between the Garamantes and the roman empire stayed peaceful and roman cultural influence and mercantile contacts strongly increased. Thereafter messages about the Garamantes are again rare to nonexistent for the next centuries and it seems that their kingdom was finally destroyed during the Islamic conquest of northern Africa in the 7th century AD.
{threenine_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the damage at the Royal Garamante Cemetery.

{threenine_macedon} Hiera Isthmia (Isthmian Games)
{threenine_macedon_desc}
The Isthmian Games are biennial. They are held in April and May before the Olympic or Pythian Games, in the first and third years of the Olympic cycle (e.g., 272, 270, 268, etc.).\n\nThe Isthmian Games were held at the Isthmos of Korinthos and organized by that polis, under the patronage of the god Poseidon. They took place every two years, on the first and third years of the Olympic cycles, in April and May. The Isthmian Games were said to be funerary in nature, with its mythological origins found in the honoring of a dead child named Melikertes. The festival itself would begin with a sacrifice to Poseidon at dawn, and the contests would each begin with a ritual chant. The games were traditionally begun in 582 or 580, at almost the same time the Pythian Games were established and near the starting date of the Nemean Games as well. The archaic temple dates to well before this period, so the site was considered a holy place long before the games were begun.\n\nBeing held at such an important crossroads, the game was always attended by very large crowds, and with an important polis like Korinthos hosting the events, with so many visitors coming in to the polis easily from the Korinthian Sea and the Saronic Gulf, its location ensured its popularity.\n\nThere were numerous age divisions at the Isthmian Games, between the categories of men and boys was a special youth category. The usual contests were held, especially noting the chariot-races in honor of Poseidon. The first musical contests were held in the third century. Nikokles of Taras won six musical victories in that century. A painting contest was held here also, as at Delphi. A woman, Aristoache of Erythrai, was recorded to have won twice in an epic verse contest in the early second century BC also.
{threenine_macedon_desc_short}
You have repaired the facilities and the racecourses at Isthmia where the Isthmian Games are held.

{fourone} FourOne
{fourone_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fourone_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fourone_barbarian} Caernahfronynys (The Calanish Stones)
{fourone_barbarian_desc}
Caernahfronynys are a series of standing stones, neolithic monuments in what would later be called the Hebrides. They are a product of the 'monolith builders', an old people who spread far across the world, building large stone edifices. These stones apparently mystified the new inhabitants of the islands, who buried small religious items around them, and etched images into them. The stones cover much space, and are arrayed in various size circles. It isn't as famous or influential spiritually as the massive construction of Stonehenge in the south, but for the native Caledonians, these stones still hold some manner of religious importance.
{fourone_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Calanish Stones, a huge set of neolithic stone monuments that continued to maintain the interest and worship of the later cultures who lived there.

{fourone_egyptian} Pharos Alexandreias (Lighthouse of Alexandreia)
{fourone_egyptian_desc}
The island of Pharos in the bay of Alexandreia was home to the one of the most famous lighthouses history. Sentries kept beacon-fires lit throughout the night to assist seafarers, but the lighthouse also served as a sign of the capabilities, wealth, and power of the Ptolemaioi.\n\nPtolemaios Soter, in the early days of his reign, authorized Sostratos of Knidos to build the lighthouse, but it was not completed until the reign of Ptolemaios. Philadelphos dedicated the lighthouse to his parents, Soter and Berenike.\n\nThe structure, once four hundred feet tall, has been hit by numerous earthquakes and today there is nothing left of it but rubble in the nearby harbor and stones reused in successive forts built upon the same spot.\n\nSTRATEGY: Trade bonus, Public order bonus due to happiness for all Hellenic factions: 5%
{fourone_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Lighthouse of Alexandreia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

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{fourtwo} FourTwo
{fourtwo_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fourtwo_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fourtwo_carthaginian} A'ssakhr 'LMaghribi 'LAthim (The Great Marib Dam)
{fourtwo_carthaginian_desc}
The ruler Sumhu' Alay Yanuf and his son, Yatha'-Amar Bayyin, began construction of a monumental earthen and stone dam near Marib in the seventh century BC. This damn in the Balaq Hills retained seasonal rains that fell in the area and allowed for more comprehensive irrigation. It was maintained by successive generations of skilled Sabaeans and eventually the kings of Himyar. The wall broke for the third and last time in 570 AD. It seems that by then the knowledge and skill to repair the dam had long vanished.\n\nThe dam itself was enormous, especially for the age and place in which it was constructed. Its meticulously block-cut stone facing spanned a gap of 1,800 feet across the path of the Wadi Adhanah. The irrigation system spread throughout an extensive area, using the dam's reserves to water approximately 25,000 acres. Spillways at the sides of the dam had 25-foot thick stone walls with gates and sluices to regulate water outflow. The dam provided the people of Marib with a bountiful crop that was far greater than that of their neighbors. Thie consistency of harvests ensured a boost to the local population.
{fourtwo_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Great Marib Dam, built in the seventh century BC, the dam was faced with meticulously cut stone blocks and spanned a 1,800 foot gap.

{fourtwo_barbarian} Cairncalladryrdan (The Old Standing Stones)
{fourtwo_barbarian_desc}
(Carn-cay-lad-reer-den) The Old Standing Stones\n\nCairncalladryrdan is one of the hundreds of neolithic monuments that consist of multiple large stones arrayed in a circle. However, none of the rest were so well preserved nor quite so large. For this reason it impressed and confused those who happened to control the land around it.\n\nThe original purpose of Cairncalladryrdan is unknown. It was not a Celtic structure, but it was one of the most important religious sites to the Druidae. Many Celtic festivals, and in later times Roman festivals, were held here to honor various deities.\n\nThousands of Celtic and Roman statuettes, weapons, pieces of armor, and other small relics are buried in the soil around the henge in a very methodic manner.\n\nSTRATEGY: Public order bonus: 5% (Casse only)\nMorale bonus to troops trained here: +1 (Casse only)
{fourtwo_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at Stonehenge.

{fourtwo_greek} Hiera Pythia (Pythian Games)
{fourtwo_greek_desc}
The Pythian Games are quadrennial. They are held in July and August after the Isthiman Games (in April and May), in the third year of the Olympic cycle (e.g., 270, 266, 262, etc.).\n\nThe Pythian Games were one of the four major panhellenic contests held in Hellas. They were held every four years, in the third year of the Olympic cycle, in July and August. The Pythian Games were held at Delphi and were named after the serpent, Python, that Apollo slew there before he claimed the place as his own. There were musical and sporting contests, including chariot-racing, but at Delphi the musical contests were the most important.\n\nBefore the First Sacred War, the games were held every eight years, but after 586 they switched to a four year cycle. That year the Amphictyons gave monetary awards for the first time to the victors. After that contest though, the games went from being a "chrematites agon" or prize contests, to ones were wreaths were awarded, "stephanitai agones". The oldest competition at Delphi was for the singing of a hymn to the accompaniment of the lyre, in honor of Apollo. The sporting contests held there were similar to those at Olympia. There were also other artistic contests held at Delphi that the other games did not include. These included a contest where painters had to create works of art under supervised conditions, but they could not enter works of art already executed.
{fourtwo_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the facilities and the racecourses at Delphi where the Pythian Games are held.

{fourtwo_egyptian} Dharmaraja Thupa (Stupa of the King of the Dharma)
{fourtwo_egyptian_desc}
After the death of the Tathagata Bodhisatva, his body was cremated and his remains interred in various stupas and monuments, ensuring their preservation as relics of the philosophy he exposed. When all Gandhara was under the authority of the Mauryan Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya, its current ruler and founder's grandson Asoka the Great converted to Buddhism and launched a campaign of peaceful proslytism, espousing the peaceful teachings of the Bodhisatva. During this campaign, he made a pilgramage to Gandhara and erected as a monument to his visit and his idol's teachings a great stupa, in which he placed some of the Bodhisatva's newly collected and redistributed body relics. Historically, the structure was the site of tremendous activity for centuries to come. There is evidence that the Indo-Greek Kings expanded the stupa's grounds and added their own monuments in the same fashion that a Western Hellenic dyanst would make personal contributions to local or prominent temples - instead of erecting a statue or shrine, as one would in Hellas, they dedicated new relics.\n\nThe Saka Kings of Taxila were even more active then their predecessors in this practice, bringing the facility to its pinnacle of function, beauty, and prominence, though it would continue to grow for centuries longer. Around the mound containing the Buddha relics themselves, were a number of monansteries and a huge number of small stupas, with the personal dedications of local and even distant officials scattered across the grounds in the form of smaller stupas - more delicately constructed reflections of the great mound itself.
{fourtwo_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Dharmaraja Thupa.

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{fourthree} FourThree
{fourthree_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fourthree_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fourthree_egyptian} Alexandrou Bomoi Indikoi (Indian Altars of Alexandros)
{fourthree_egyptian_desc}
When Alexandros' men refused to go any farther into the east, on the banks of the Hyphasis River in India, and he realized that he would be forced to finally halt his conquests, he set up twelve pillars to honor the Olympian gods for what they had brought to him so far. Arrian states that, "Then he divided the army into twelve parts and gave orders to build twelve altars, as high as the biggest towers and broader even than towers would be. These were meant as thank offerings to the gods for having brought him victorious so far, and as memorials of his labors." Pliny says that Alexandros erected the altars on the far bank of the river (VI, 21), but Arrian does not say he crossed the river before dedicating them.\n\nThat the pillars were still standing five centuries later is confirmed by the statement of Philostratos that Apollonios of Tyana journeyed to India in the second century A.D. and found the pillars still standing and their inscriptions were still visible. They are the farthest extent of the conquests of the Hellenic world and the possession and maintanence of them would be a goal worthy of any Hellenistic monarch. They provide happiness to some conquerers.
{fourthree_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at Alexandros set up altars to the gods at the farthest western extent of his travels.

{fourthree_carthaginian} HaMitsbot HaBaleariot (Cyclopean Monuments of the Baleares)
{fourthree_carthaginian_desc}
The pre-Qarthadasti and pre-Romanculture that inhabited the island (lots in common with Sardinia) is called the Talayot culture, after their largest and most unique monuments. Their large circular talaia are massive stone constructions built for defensive purposes, but sometimes inhabited, and they numbered in the hundreds across the islands during the years before the Qarthadastim arrived. The most important religious monuments on the islands were linked to some degree with the talaia and are called "taulas". There is nothing comparable in any other part of the world: a column with capital standing in the middle of temple-like enclosures. They are often as high as 4 meters and some look more like altars for giants than anything humans could use for ceremony or sacrifice. The taulas and talaia are the most important sites for the Balearic peoples and while the Qarthadastim benefited from their relations with the native inhabitants of the islands, other western and northern European peoples would have found much in common with the inhabitants and their architecture.
{fourthree_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Cyclopean Monuments of the Baleares.

{fourthree_nomad} Ustyurt Plateau Sanctuaries
{fourthree_nomad_desc}
On the windswept plains of the Ustyurt Plateau stood stone sculptures of the steppe nomads' heroic ancestors. Erected in times of crisis, these statues were placed around altars where the people honored their gods (the Sun, the Fire, the God of War). At the same time they sought to propitiate their gods. Their descendants could look at the images of the heroes of the past and see models to imitate and be reminded of past glories to be gained anew through courage and prowess.
{fourthree_nomad_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Ustyurt Plateau Sanctuaries, the unique burial grounds of the Samartians whose tombs also are dedicated to their gods.

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{fourfour} FourFour
{fourfour_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fourfour_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fourfour_carthaginian} Mitsbat HaPilaenim (Altar)
{fourfour_carthaginian_desc}
In the 4th century BC, Tripolitania came into conflict with
Greek colonies in Cyrenaica for the limits of their respectives boundaries. According to the legend, this boundary dispute was settled in a unique way. After a period of indecisive battles between both forces, it was agreed that each side should dispatch its fastest runners to finally decide the matter. The runners from each state should depart at a given time from their respective locations and would to set the border at a line drawn from the sea and intersecting the point where the runners met.\n\nThe Qarthadastim sent two runners, the Philaeni brothers, who with their athletic energy covered two- thirds of the distance before they met their rivals from Cyrene. When the Cyrenes, to their dismay, encountered the Qarthadasti runners almost at the eastern end of the Sirt, they Greeks accused the Qarthadastim and the Philaeni brothers of cheating by starting before the appointed time. This led to a lot of discussion between the Qarthadastim and the Greeks from Cyrene. To solve the dispute the Greeks offered the Qarthadastim to choose between moving the boundary closer to Leptis Magna or that the Philaeni brothers to be buried alive at the point they had reached.\n\nThe Philaeni brothers, as a token of their good faith and honesty, decided to be buried alive at the spot they had reached with their effort. Over their graves, the legendary Altars of the Philaeni were erected to mark the division of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, and to honor the courage of those brave brothers.
{fourfour_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the most Altar of the Philaeni

{fourfour_barbarian} Ynys Duwall (Island of Darkness)
{fourfour_barbarian_desc}
The Dark Isle, or Island of Darkness, is the center of the British druids. Councils are held between multiple tribes to determine a peaceful resolution to certain issues that may otherwise lead to war. Druids from all over the Celtic world go to the island to study with the druids there. It is home to many of the greatest minds of theology and philosophy among their number, as well as other professions. The area is filled with forests, groves, and shrines to their many gods and spirits. What may seem surprising is the actual lack of a terrible lot of ornamentation for such an important place. This may be to make it inconspicous though. Riches and goods are brought to the meeting places as some decoration, but mostly there are only votive statues and pools with discarded weapons and armor of enemies, and places for discarding the remains of sacrifices.\n\nHistorically, the island was of repeated importance, and the site of numerous slaughters. Material finds on Anglesey and the nearby islands turn up coins and votive objects to Celtic deities. The Romans tell us specifically this was the seat of the druids, which is born out later by the desire of the then pagan Laigini of Ireland to conquer the area in the 4th and 5th centuries possibly on religious grounds initially, before being driven out by the Brythonic warlord Cunedda, his son, and grandson. The Irish were finally driven off from their last enclave in a terrible, mutual massacre that saw much of both sides die. Yet later, the Danes would raid the island and lay waste to it, all but annihilating the population.\n\nThe most key evidence to its importance comes from the Roman Tacitus (Annals, Book XIV, Chapter 30), and with it probably the most important of such mass bloodsheds associated with the island. The Romans had gone to remove the druids as a factor from British politics; their religious and secular authority amongst the tribes was too great to leave unchecked. In this time, the queen Boudicca would begin her revolt, while the Romans were concerned with the druids. Tacitus tells us of the battle on the island, with druids chanting and women running through the British battle line with torches, to, successfully, illicit fear from the Romans. The Romans though, not wishing to be ashamed for 'yielding to a troop of women', proceeded in their attack, and slaughtered the druids, and proceeded to raze every holy site to the ground. Here he describes 'the natives stained their altars with blood' in this place, and read the entrails of the dying for omens. With the destruction of the site, and the slaughter of the druids of Britain, the only organized Celtic religious remained in Ireland, who possessed their own holy sites and druids. Without their influence, the Britons would be far easier to keep in check.
{fourfour_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the most holy site of the druids. Your name is chanted in thanks to the gods!

{fourfour_egyptian} Varkana Drubustih (Hyrkanian Defensive Wall)
{fourfour_egyptian_desc}
The Arsakid Dynasty built this monumental construction over earlier Achaemenid defense works to protect Parthia from the invasions of the northern nomad tribes. It is one of the most outstanding and gigantic architectural monuments in history, second only to the Great Wall of China as the largest defensive wall in the world. The wall begins at at the coast of the Vaurukesh (today known as the Caspian Sea), circles to the north of Gonbade Kâvous, continues northwest, and vanishes behind the Piškamar Mountains. It is 100 miles long and roughly 20 to 30 feet wide. Forty fortresses were spaced at intervals of 6 to 30 miles so any one fort could provide assistance to another in times of need.\n\nSTRATEGY: Population growth bonus: -0.5 (Sauromatae and Saka)
{fourfour_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the Hyrkanian Defensive Wall, a wall built to protect the Parthians from the invasions of the northern nomadic tribes.

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{fourfive} FourFive
{fourfive_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fourfive_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fourfive_egyptian} Alexandrou Bomoi Eschatoi (Alexander's Furthest Altars)
{fourfive_egyptian_desc}
Arrian states that Megas Alexandros set up his northernmost altars, dedicated to Dionysos, on the mount slopes above the city of Alexandreia-Eschate. Pliny states that "Beyond are the Sogdiani and the town of Panda, and on the farthest confines of their territory Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great. At this place there are altars set up by Hercules and Father Liber, and also by Cyrus and Samiramis and by Alexander, all of whom found their limit in this region of the world, where they were shut in by the river Syr Darya, which the Scythae call the Silis and which Alexander and his soldiers supposed to be the Don. But this river was crossed by Demodamas, the general of King Seleucus and King Antiochus, whom we are chiefly following in this part of our narrative; and he set up altars to Apollo Didymaeus." (6.18.49)
{fourfive_egyptian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the altars of Alexandros.

{fourfive_barbarian} Sammallahdenmaki Cairns
{fourfive_barbarian_desc}
In 1500 BC, what is now a shallow lake of Saarnijarvi, was a gulf of the Baltic Sea. Upon the cliffs of this inlet, a settlement was built. Its inhabitants strived on fishing, birding and hunting. The climate was warmer and more hospitable than it is today.\n\nIn the beginning of the Bronze Age, a scandinavian culture expanded to Western Finland, bringing with itself vast changes in culture and lifestyle. The newcomers brought with themselves metal tools and weapons, as well as new religious practices: ceremonial cremation and building of large stone barrows, the Cairns. The landscape of Finland is full of stones, rocks and boulders, left after the ice age, and they are a natural building material here. Nowhere is it more visible than in the cairn field of Sammallahdenmaki. Over 40 graves stand on the rocky cliffs, once overlooking the stormy northern sea. This necropolis was in use by the locals for over a thousand years, with last graves being built as late as the threshold of Christian Era, bearing witness to development of native civilization over the centuries. Two of the largest constructions, the quadrangular "Church Floor" and dike-like "Long Ruin" spread over tens of meters in length and width, and could without overstatement be called "scandinavian pyramids". Nowhere in all of Scandinavia could such massive Bronze Age monuments be found, and this place was certainly an important center of religious practice in days of old.\n\nAs centuries passed, the sea receded, climate has worsened, and the necropolis, along with the dwelling site south of it, fell into ruin and lay forgotten in the deep forest, but the massive graves remained, remnants of former glory of those who lived here long ago.
{fourfive_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the only enormous stone cairns in regions around Scandinavia.

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{foursix} FourSix
{foursix_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{foursix_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{foursix_carthaginian} HaNuraghim HaSardinim (Sardinian Nuraghi)
{foursix_carthaginian_desc}
Approximately 7,000 nuraghi (single stone towers in the shape of a cone) dot the landscape of Sardinia. Although most of the towers were constructed in the Bronze Age, they were still in use during Qarthadasti and Roman times. Their development seems to have been indigenous to Sardinia, but they are similar in some respects to the other "cyclopean" constructions constructed throughout the Mediterranean in the Bronze Age.\n\nThe nuraghi, which had flat, ladder-accessible roofs that aided defenders, usually had a defensive purpose. They were especially troublesome for any group that wanted to to control the native inhabitants of the island's mountainous interior. Throughout the Qarthadasti hegemony they provided places of refuge for the native Sardinians when conflicts occurred with their foreign rulers. The Romans also had difficulties eliminating the native Sardinian resistance because of the nuraghi. In later Roman times they became a center of festivals and cults and they housed shrines to various gods. Many remain central gathering places even today.
{foursix_carthaginian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction of the Sardinian Nuraghi. Don't ask us why, but you did it.

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{fourseven} FourSeven
{fourseven_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fourseven_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

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{foureight} FourEight
{foureight_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{foureight_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{foureight_egyptian} (Border Trade Resource)
{foureight_egyptian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Erythraia received some trade with provinces to the south along the east African coast. It has a bonus of 1 added to its trade base income.
{foureight_egyptian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{foureight_barbarian} Erxnaxmaroz (The Shining Stone)
{foureight_barbarian_desc}
Erχn-aχmaroz\n(ER-khn-A-khma-roz, "Holy vaulted stone Chamber," known more commonly today as 'Externsteine')\n\nIn the Southeastern part of the Osning (Teutoburg) Forest, in the lands of the Xeruskōzez (Cherusci), there are thirteen remarkable free-standing sandstone rocks, some reaching heights of up to thirty-eight meters. The stones were first used by ancient European peoples and later by Germanic tribes as a holy site of worship. Cultic activities involving sacrifices would have been held at the site with shaman/priests and priestesses (guthjonez), male and female witches (weixonez) who might have predicted the future through astrology and resided near the stones. Every solstice an important event takes place within the megaliths: the sun's light falls precisely on the rock of the rear wall of the destroyed observatory and light shines through a specific hole, reflecting on a particular stone in such a way that its point is illuminated by the light; this is thought to represent Wāthonoz (or Deiwoz as the original god of War) hanging from the World Tree.
{foureight_barbarian_desc_short}
You have repaired the destruction at the megalith formations of the Shining Stone used by the early European peoples for worship and astronomical purposes.

{foureight_carthaginian} Mis'har 'Abor Gbulot (Border Trade Resource)
{foureight_carthaginian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe provinces of Turdetania received some trade with provinces to the south along the west African coast, as did Mauretania Tingitana. Phasania received a small amount of inland trade with nomads across the Sahara. These provinces have bonuses of 1 added to their trade base income.
{foureight_carthaginian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{foureight_greek} Hiera Nemea (Nemean Games)
{foureight_greek_desc}
The Nemean Games are biennial. They are held in July and August on the years when there are no Olympic or Pythian Games, in the second and fourth years of the Olympic cycle (e.g., 271, 269, 267, etc.).\n\nThe Nemean Games were celebrated in honor of Zeus, as were the Olympic Games themselves. The first Nemean Games were held in 573 BC, slightly later than the other great panhellenic festivals and more than likely directly emulating the Olympic Games. Kleonai, the polis next to Nemea, had control of the site and the festival, but they were close enough that Argos was ultimately in control of the games, and the conduct of the festival was handed over to Argos at some time preceding the destruction of the sanctuary at the end of the fifth century. The mythological origins of the games were funerary in nature, honoring the infant Opheltes and a heroon for him was an important feature at the site. These funerary origins caused the hellanodikai to wear black robes during the festival. The games were held biennially, in the second and fourth years of the Olympic festival, in late July or August. It lasted several days and there were gymnic, equestrian, and musical events, as well as a special competition between heralds. The contestants were sorted in three categories: boys, youths, and men.
{foureight_greek_desc_short}
You have repaired the damage done to the athletic facilities and the stadium at Nemea so that the Nemean Games may continue.

{foureight_nomad} (Border Trade Resource)
{foureight_nomad_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Sai Yavuga received a good deal of land trade with many provinces to the east. It has a bonus of 2 added to its trade base income.
{foureight_nomad_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

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{fournine} FourNine
{fournine_desc}
WARNING! This baseline description should never appear on screen!
{fournine_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fournine_carthaginian} (Border Trade Resource)
{fournine_carthaginian_desc}
This province has neighbors whom it trades with frequently, neighbors who are not on the map and thus not able to be represented by the RTW engine. This "building" makes up for some of the income the province should be getting, but that is currently left out as a result of the map's edges not taking that trade into account.\n\nThe province of Diamat received a good deal of trade with provinces to the south along the east African coast, and some trade to the south by land as well. It has a bonus of 2 added to its trade base income.
{fournine_carthaginian_desc_short}
WARNING! This baseline short description should never appear on screen!

{fournine_macedon} Hiera Olympia (Olympic Games)
{fournine_macedon_desc}
The Olympic Games are quadrennial. They are held in July and August, in the first year of the Olympic cycle (e.g., 272, 268, 264, etc.).\n\nBest known of all the panhellenic festivals, the Olympic Games were the oldest as well. It originated from local contests at Elis which attracted an increasing number of competitors and spectators from nearby poleis. The traditional date for the establishment of the games was 776, but they most developed in the seventh century. The other festivals in the sixth century underwent organization to emulate the Olympic Games more and form a set of four central panhellenic contests. The stadion was the original contest, but the mythological origin centers around a chariot race. The contests were held at the sanctuary of Zeus and in his honor. Competitors came from a range across the Hellenic world, from the Peloponessos, all of mainland Hellas, the Hellenic poleis of Asia Minor, Italia, Sikelia, and even Hellenes from Aigyptos and Kyrenaia.\n\nThe journey to and from Olympia was difficult and the site was very crowded. The games were held in the summer months (July and August) and it was very hot almost always; a few deaths from contestants and spectators by heat stroke probably was quite common. The games were held over five days, especially on the third. Contests ranged from the stadion itself to many other types of foot races, chariot and cart races, even races where the rider would jump off their horse and run for the last lap alongside their mounts. That last contest didn't last long though - not many people were interested in it. Boxing, pankration, and wrestling contests didn't always draw the most competitors. The Spartans generally did not enter boxing or pankration matches because they did not want to have to concede defeat (which was usually required in them) to their opponents. Wrestlers lost after being thrown three times.
{fournine_macedon_desc_short}
You have repaired the facilities and the racecourses at Olympia where the Olympic Games are held.

{fournine_eastern} Karahunj (Singing Stones)
{fournine_eastern_desc}
The standing stones of Karahunj, the most likely translation for which is 'Singing Stones', are situated 200 km south-east of Armavir (modern day Yerevan). These massive stones, numbering over 200 in number, are crafted from massive basalt blocks and each weigh up to 10 tonnes. Spanning an area of 7 hectares the stones are believed to be the earliest example of a human observatory, in use for over 5,000 years and built about 7,500 years ago.\n\nSuch dating makes them earlier monuments than the Pyramids of Egypt, or the Stonehenge of England, and obviously such dating is highly controversial. Paris Herouni, a scientist and radio physicist, has worked with the stones for many years, and believes his measurements prove beyond doubt that these stones were first placed some 7,500 years ago and the site was in use until roughly 2,500 years ago.\n\nThe stones are placed in specific points and holes, carved into the stone and showing signs of sophisticated tool work, point toward various points on the horizon. At certain times of the year these holes would be used to observe prominent stars as they made their way across the sky; their rising and falling at the horizon precisely coinciding with the 'telescopic' holes through which they were measured. By measuring on what parts of the horizon the holes fell, whilst using the precise mechanics that govern the earth's movement along its axis and four telescopic measurements, Herouni argues that the monuments were first created 2,500 years before the Egyptian and Sumerian civilisations. Stars that once passed through the holes at certain times of the year no longer do, but by knowing the co-ordinates of the stars now, Herouni has been able to count backward in time until such a point where the sky represented what the ancient of people of that culture would have seen and thus begun to measure.\n\nThe monument itself was most likely a temple complex, for of the 223 stones that Herouni numerated, only 84 had holes useful for the measuring of the heavens. A central circle of stones without holes most likely comprised the original monument, with the observatory and teaching areas being added over time as the development of the culture made further and further discoveries about the stars. A well developed and successful culture must have been at the heart of this religious observation of the stars, for such precise measurements require a written language and knowledge of mathematics and precision stone tools - it is no wonder then that Herouni posits that Hayasdan could well have been the birth-place of the great civilisations who followed in this reverance of the stars.\n\nHerouni's calculations do question some fundamental conclusions about early civilisations, but they have been supported by Prof. G. S. Hawkins, a prominent scholar who specialises in ancient stone monuments. Further study and new interest should place Karahunj center-stage in the study of early human civilisation and allow us another way to reach back into our own past. Not bad for a bunch of stones on a hill.
{fournine_eastern_desc_short}
These great stones, so old and worn have been re-erected where they once stood and this has please the local tribes of Hayasdan. Some say that these stones can be used to measure the stars, or are the remains of some great temple built by the first people of this region. Whatever their history, they stand once more thanks to your benevolence.

{fournine_roman} Garganus Mons et Foresta Umbra (Mount Gargano and the Ghostly Forest)
{fournine_roman_desc}
"In Daunia, on a hill by the name of Drium, are to be seen two hero-temples: one, to Calchas, on the very summit, where those who consult the oracle sacrifice to his shade a black ram and sleep in the hide, and the other, to Podaleirius, down near the base of the hill, this temple being about one hundred stadia distant from the sea and from it flows a stream which is a cure-all for diseases of animals. In front of this gulf is a promontory, Garganum, which extends towards the east for a distance of three hundred stadia into the high sea doubling the headland, one comes to a small town, Urium, and off the headland are to be seen the Islands of Diomedes. This whole country produces everything in great quantity, and is excellent for horses and sheep; but though the wool is softer than the Tarantine, it is not so glossy. And the country is well sheltered, because the plains lie in hollows." (--Strabo, Geography, VI, 3,9)\n\nThe Gargano penninsula is the 'spur' in the boot that is Italia, a region of high rocky cliffs and ridges that abuts into the sea with a towering promontory known in our times as Druim. The Gargano mountain itself is home to the most ancient shrine in Western Europe, that a place of homage to the Graeci oracle Calchas, who laughed himself to death when his foretold day of demise did not seem to come. As Strabo mentions, seekers of knowledge would sacrifice a black ram to the seer's shade, and sleep within the cave to recieve his visions in their dreams. Gargano is covered by and surrounded with the deep recesses of the Umbral Forest, an absolutely ancient green woodland famous for its trees of tremendous size and its thick overhead canopy of forest that prevents sunlight from coming through, giving rise to its name as the 'shadow' or 'ghostly' forest. The Foresta Umbra is today the only remaining part in Italy of the ancient Black Forest. The Roman poet Horace mentiones the forest and Gargano in his Odes, Book II, IX.
{fournine_roman_desc_short}
You have repaired the damage to the shrine.

οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν.
Even as are the generations of leaves, such are the lives of men.
Glaucus, son of Hippolochus, Illiad, 6.146

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Here are some ideas to start all of you off with: some wonderous features that I think would be worthwhile looking into. These are just suggestions- feel free to look anywhere within the EB world.

The Idaean Cave on Crete
Karatepe in Cilicia
Pithecussae Island (Iscia) of Italy
Jebel Aqra/Mount Casios in Phoenicia
The Corycian Cave in Greece
The Severn Bore (tides make the river flow backwards) and the Two Kings
The Fiery Pool of Sulis
Droitwich Salt Springs in Worcestershire

Last edited by oudysseos; 12-05-2009 at 15:08.

οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν.
Even as are the generations of leaves, such are the lives of men.
Glaucus, son of Hippolochus, Illiad, 6.146

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Well, I don't know how much help I can be with finding new wonders that you guys have not already heard about, so I'll just try to help with researching some of the suggestions.

The Idaean Cave on Crete

CAUTION: The image is quite big!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The Idaean Cave, located on Mt. Ida, is thought to be the most important cave of Greek antiquity. The cave, and the mountain it is located on, receive their names from the Cretan nymph known as Ida or Ideia. Interestingly enough, Greek mythology tells of two nymphs by this name, the first of which lived on Mt. Ida, the highest point in Crete (at 2456m), and second of which lived on a different Mt. Ida, located in the Phrygia region of Asia Minor, near the ancient city of Troy.

The Cretan nymph Ida is closely linked to Cretan mythical stories, which were somewhat influenced by those of Asia Minor. She is said to be the daughter of Corybas, a priest of the goddess Cybele. Cybele, the mother goddess, was worshiped as a goddess of fertility and nature, and is also considered to be the forebear of the Corybantes, the mountain-gods or demons of Asia Minor and who were on Crete associated with the Curetes, a type of vegetation demons. Ida is sometimes referred to as the wife of Lycastos, the son of the Cretan king Minos. She is even mentioned as a partner of Zeus, with whom she propagated Cres, the mythical father of the Cretan tribe.

The Idaean Cave itself is a site of major importance in Greek mythology. It is in fact known as the site where Zeus' mother Rhea took Zeus and hid him after giving birth to him in the Diktaean Cave, for fear that his father Kronos would swallow him. According to some stories, it was in this cave that Ida and her sister Adrasteia reared Zeus. It is thus no surprise that the Idaean Cave became an important cult place in which many worshipers left offerings to the gods.

The cavern became a place to worship in Neolithic times, and retained this function in the Minoan era. During the Minoan era, it was most likely dedicated to the Cretan mother goddess Cybele, the previously mentioned mother of the nymph Ida. With the arrival of the Achaean invaders in the Mycenaean period, new gods were introduced, and with this came the myth of the rearing of Zeus in the Idaean Cave. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods it retained much of its glory, but with the coming of Christianity it ceased to have any religious importance and became a shelter for shepherds. During the time of its religious importance, worshipers would leave offerings made of ivory and other precious materials. The importance of the sanctuary is indicated by the huge number of broken clay lamps found in the cave, which would have provided light to the worshipers. Archaeologists have also uncovered important examples of metalwork of the Geometric Period and bronze votive shields (late 8th-7th c. BC) with incised and hammered scenes, among the most exquisite artworks of the ancient world. One of the shields depicts Zeus in the center surrounded by Curetes with drums, a direct reference to the myth of his upbringing, in which Rhea had the Curetes beat drums and shields to drown out the sound of Zeus crying.

Today, the cave is known as "The Shepherd Girl's Cave" to the local shepherds, and Mt. Ida has been renamed Mt. Psiloritis. However, the cave remains, and work continues to excavate more material to this day.

Last edited by WinsingtonIII; 12-05-2009 at 23:43.

from Megas Methuselah, for some information on Greek colonies in Iberia.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

i have not been to sardinia, and thus ia am by no means an expert, but i remember seeing them on a program about possible origins for the "sea people".

they predate the EB timeframe, but as many are still standing i presume that much like stonehenge they would have been visible to the inhabitants of the island in EB's timeframe.

they are not at one site, but are dotted around the island. the EB artilcle mentions some of the key sites.

edit: i would suggest that perhaps a bit of creative licence could be taken and one might imagine they would have been a bit taller back then, i am sure that there has been plenty of wear and tear of the last coule of thousand years.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

New Wonder Proposal: The White Cliffs of Dover
Formed by the same catastrophic event that created the strait of Dover during the last ice age these cliffs have long been the first thing any traveller from the continent would have seen of Britain, going so far as to forming the basis of the first recorded name for the island: Albion (the white isle), their long white line providing a distinctive landmark for traders since the Neolithic times.

A major feature found along the coastline is the Dour river estuary which cuts a steep valley through the cliffs providing the only suitable landing area on that part of the coast. This was the site of a old trading post on which the later roman port of Dubris was built, the port was to become one of the most important in Britain eventually becoming modern day Dover. It was here that the British tribes assembled to oppose Ceasers landing in 55bc, the sight of the forces arrayed on the cliffs above the port convincing him to sail further north to Walmer where the cliffs come to an end before attempting a landing.

In recent times excavations carried out during the construction of the channel tunnel unearthed a sizable boat of at least 11.7m in length and weighing 2.3 tonnes, dating from the bronze age (1600bc) it is believed to have been a true ocean going vessel making it amoung some of the oldest of its type in Europe. This combined with other finds in the area such as the Langdon Bay hoard help to highlight the exstensive trade activity present in the region since the earliest of times.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

http://www.sosauce.com/photo/loadIma...jgm5tL6Y8I.jpg
How about Mt Chimaera, in Lycia? There are natural methane gas vents from inside to the top of the mountain, and flames constantly burn at the top, night and day, and cannot be put out. At night, the flames sometimes turn green (there must be copper there). It was described to have lions at the top of the mountain (there were lions in anatolia up until a few hundred years ago), goats grazing around the middle, and snakes at its base, hence the monster Chimaera, with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail. Isidore de Seville also suggested that someone named Bellerophon made the mountain inhabitable, therefore defeating the Chimaera (I am not sure where Pegasus fits into it though) It would definitely have been known to the people living there back then, as they made up the story! For those who went there, it would also have been perhaps a religious experience.http://www.hotel212olympos.com/image...Yanartas_1.jpghttp://www.alibabapension.com/images/yanartas.jpg
Mt Chimaera, or Yanaras (meaning burning rock) as it is now knowm is situated 3 km north of the village of Çıralı, near ancient Olympos, in Lycia, now in Antalya region, southwest Turkey.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

The sanctuary of Corent, capital of the Arverni before Gergovia:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

A City Sanctuary

The first excavations of Corent (1992-1993) gave evidence of a large, Roman-era sanctuary. The sanctuary was organized into a core of large quarters, surrounding a massive gallery upwards of sixty meters across. Its plan coincides exactly with the stone walls which surround the site.

The excavations undertaken from 2001-2005 have shown that this sanctuary was built on the foundations of a Gaul settlement from the end of their era, around 130 BCE. Its walls were originally built with wooden palisades anchored in a deep trench around the base. These first boundaries of the sacred space were replaced in the first century BCE by a gallery on wooden posts connecting the four quarters of the core: this enclosure measured more than 50 meters across and as high as eight meters!

These were to be replaced around the beginning of the Roman era by stone walls, built on top of the remains of the old fortifications. At the time of its construction the plan and elevation of the sanctuary were drawn on an engraving stone for the architects and laborers. The last version of the Roman sanctuary contained a mason-built gallery surrounding a large stone temple, which would be common up until the fourth century CE.

The Feasts of the King Luern

Two rectangular buildings were discovered at the center of the sanctuary. Fixed with ditches with wooden beams for support, these buildings were decorated with sheep skulls and jaws strung together like garland. The surrounding areas were littered with thousands of bones, as well as clay wine carriers imported from the Italian peninsula, and metal culinary utensils (cauldrons, knives, forks, colanders, pails, ladles, spoons). These remains correspond with the tons of meat and the hundreds of gallons of wine consumed within the banquets mentioned in the ancient texts of the Arverne king Luern:

“Luern, to gain the favor of the masses, travelled by wagon throughout the countryside, and threw gold and money at the myriad of Celts who followed him. He enclosed a space of twelve square meters, which he filled with vats of fine drinks, and prepared vast quantities of victuals which, for several days, he allowed those who wished to enter, to taste whatever he may want, to no end.” Source: Posidonius of Apameia (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae IV 37, 1-19

This festive manifestation of politics was still present around the time of Vercingetorix: In one of his lectures to the masses, the Roman historian Florus spoke of such “festivals held in the sanctuaries.” These festivities presided over by the Arverne leadership took place at the sanctuary at Corent for over a hundred years.

The center of the sanctuary was occupied by masses of circular and square clay pottery: paunches and thighs, laid out in small wood-covered caves, were probably destined to be sacrifices to the gods (some of the remains were human). These recall the “vats filled with wine” of Luern’s festivals.
Varied Offerings.

The enclosing ditch delivered other offerings characteristic of the sanctuaries of this period: human skulls, horse and cow bones, sword fragments, spears and shields, beads of glass, bone and bronze, and horse and boar figurines, all of which illustrate the central role of the sanctuary in the religious, political and economic realms of the Arverne at the end of the Iron Age.

Hundreds of coins were also found in the sanctuary. Traces of a monetary workshop were also discovered in the proximity of the entrance: monetary coins, scrap metal, balances and other precision instruments, as well as small tools were also found. The ability to mint coins, reserved to the great capitols, also recalls the allegory of Luern, who distributed pieces of money from his chariot.

A coin made on-site was enamored with a fox perched upon a chariot. This representative animal was displayed at the entrance of the sanctuary, in the form of exposed skulls with other carnivores such as wolves, wildcats and dogs. The fox, from the Celtic word louernos from which the Gaulic chief took his name, probably symbolized the control exercised by his dynasty from the principal sanctuary of the city.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Hello All,
First of All I want to apologize for my terrible English .Mount Ślęża
Ślęża (German: Zobten or Zobtenberg, also Silingi) is a mountain in the Sudetes foothills (Pogórze Sudeckie) in Lower Silesia, southern Poland. This natural reserve built mostly of granite is 718 m high and covered with forests. The area was described by Ptolemy as Asciburgius in Magna Germania.

The growth of the shrine is associated with Boii in 4 century BC.
At the top of the mount there are stone monuments like this
and this
There is diagonal cross on this monuments which is probably a solar symbol
In this area also was found ~100 celtic graves and some traces of a celtic settlements.

Once again sorry for my english. I hope that there is sense in my post :)

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

I would like to repeat something from OP Oudysseos;

2. Look at the list of Wonders already in EB or already proposed. Posting something that is already there just wastes everyone's time. A search of the thread will help determine if your idea has already been posted.

5. Do the Research. Don't just post a name- we need some information about whatever it is you think should be included. Bear in mind that neolithic sites like Newgrange may well have disappeared by the Iron Age, only to be rediscovered by modern archaeology. We need some evidence that the site was known to the people of EB.

6. Be Original. Do not just copy and paste Wikipedia articles- if you care enough about a cool feature of the ancient world to suggest it to us, care enough to write your own description.

The thread/posts already deviates far from these few simple guidelines, in fact only Winsington and Nazgool has tried to keep them.

Come on guys, show some discipline and respect for the team. Consider this a scientific article. If you want it published it must be well-researched and well-written. If I sent "Historisk Tidsskrift" (well-respected magazine for academic historians here in Denmark) a link to a Wiki article or wrote five lines I would never be taken seriously by my peers again.

Show some discipline, restraint and effort, this is a gift to us from the team (they include us in the process and we get to leave a mark on a very specific and high-profile part of EBII). If you want it included, do the job.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Another suggestion: Mt Nemrut. it is in Eastern Turkey, 40 km north of Kahta, near Adiyaman.
Unfortunately, it was built around 60BC, which makes it inside the timeframe, but quite far in. It was made as the administrative and religious center of the Komagenne Kingdom, a successor of the Seleucids. They were essentially Greek, but extremely heavily influenced by Armenian and Iranian culture. They worshipped Armenian-Zoroastrian-Greek hybrid gods such as Apollo-Mithras, Zeus-Aramazd and Hercules-Vaghan. They also worshipped the Seleukid royal family as gods. The Kommagene kingdom, under Seleukid rule was declared independent by the satrap, Ptolemaios. It remained independent until the Romans conquered them later, though fell in and out of Roman rule many times, until being definitively conquered in 72AD. The complex consisted of huge, seated statues, including the gods, kings and sacred animals such as eagles. (the heads of the statues are still visible) It would have been very important to the locals, as it was the religious centre of their kingdom.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...unt_Nemrut.jpg Don't worry it's just a picture!http://www.mtmholidays.com/prodimage...ut-antioch.jpghttp://www.wayfaring.info/wp-content..._turkey_01.jpg
It is very interesting, but I don't know if it can be made that it appears after the Seleucids have been destroyed etc?

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

The tomb of the Etruscan king Lars Porsena, built around 500 BCE at Clusium (modern Chiusi), Italy, was described as follows by the Roman writer Marcus Varro (116-27 BCE):

"Porsena was buried below the city of Clusium in the place where he had built a square monument of dressed stones. Each side was three hundred feet in length and fifty in height, and beneath the base there was an inextricable labyrinth, into which, if any-body entered without a clue of thread, he could never discover his way out. Above this square building there stand five pyramids, one at each corner and one in the centre, seventy-five feet broad at the base and one hundred and fifty feet high. These pyramids so taper in shape that upon the top of all of them together there is supported a brazen globe, and upon that again a petasus from which bells are suspended by chains. These make a tinkling sound when blown about by the wind, as was done in bygone times at Dodona. Upon this globe there are four more pyramids, each a hundred feet in height, and above them is a platform on which are five more pyramids.+

This extraordinary structure, standing some 750 feet high, was supposedly destroyed along with Clusium itself in 89 BCE by the Roman general Cornelius Sulla. No trace of it has ever been found, and historians have generally regarded Varro’s account as a gross exaggeration at best, and downright fabrication at worst. However, it now appears that archaeologists have been looking in the wrong place, and ancient Clusium may well have been closer to Florence than modern Chiusi.

A attempt of drawing the tomb

Wasn't Corent a later development? All I've found on it suggested use starting around 150bc.

Yes, but I think it's possible to include the sanctuary as a special building to build during the second century BC. I don't know if it's possible to make a wonder building during the game.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Oudysseus, there seem to be some items missing in your list of EB I wonders, for example the Externsteine (Xeruskolándám) and the Temple of Asklepios and Hygeia (?) in Emporion.

I was going to propose the Externsteine when I saw they were not on the list, but after some research I have doubts if they should be included at all.
It seems that the idea of the Externsteine being a germanic sanctuary was brought up by national-romantic historians in the 19. century and then widely popularized in the 1920s and 1930s. Especially the Nazis tried to see a "germanic Stonehenge" in the Externsteine. Archaeological evidence however does not support this point of view. Apart from some paleolithic and mesolithic findings, the first evidence for a human presence there comes from the early middle ages. There is no evidence to suggest that the Externsteine were of any religious importance to the locals in the Neolithicum, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and EBs time frame. While people could have known them as a landmark, nothing implies that they were religious center of the germanic people.

Here is a link to a review (in english) of a book by archaeologist Uta Halle, who has examined the excavations done at the Externsteine in the 1930s and has come to the conclusion that the still popular view of the Externsteine as a germanic sanctuary is just a nationalist fantasy:http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11176

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Originally Posted by AncientFanTR

Another suggestion: Mt Nemrut.
Unfortunately, it was built around 60BC, which makes it inside the timeframe, but quite far in. It was made as the administrative and religious center of the Komagenne Kingdom, a successor of the Seleucids. It consisted of huge, seated statues (the heads are still visible) of kings and Graeco-Persian gods such as Apollo-Mithrashttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...unt_Nemrut.jpg
It is very interesting, but I don't know if it can be made that it appears after the Seleucids have been destroyed etc?

Please see the OP again for the criteria, the team will drown in suggestions with Wiki links, as I stated in my post just above this one, we are supposed to do it ourselves!!. So get to work or forget inclusion!

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Apart fro having many Megalitic Temples here on Malta, like Gigantia ( of Giants), Hagar Qim (Old Stones), Imnajdra, The Hypogium, and The Tarxien Temple Complex, at Marsaxlokk, known during Roman times as Portus Herkuleum, there was a Greco-Punic temple dedicated to Astarte and then to Juno,which was completely looted by Verres, the Roman governor of Sicily and Malta between 73 B.C. and 70 B.C. It is said that the temple was very large and rich, hence the looting by Verres, and as mentioned by Cicero even the pirates infesting the Mediterranean dared not rob it of its riches.

In 1694 two cippi, small columns or pillars of marble, were discovered at the Tas Silg Punic Temple at Marsaxlokk, a fishing village southeast of Valetta on the island of Malta. A “cippus” is a small pillar with an inscription. On these cippi the inscription read, “To our Lord Melkart, the Lord of Tyre. The offerer is thy servant Abd-Osiri, and my brother, Osiri-Shomar, both of us sons of Osiri-Shomar, the son of Abd-Osiri. In hearing their voice, may he bless them.”
The bilingual texts provided the key to deciphering the Phoenician script in the 18th century by Abbe Barthemeley of Paris. In 1964 Malta issued a stamp with a picture of a cippus, and a text in Phoenician script (Punic) and in Greek. I have not been able to determine whether the cippus on the stamp issued by Malta in 1965 is one discovered in 1694, but it seems likely that it is, and in any case they would be similar. One of the two discovered at Marsaxlokk has been preserved in the Phoenician hall at the National Museum of Malta in Valetta.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

The Ribemont-Sur-Ancre Battle Shrine
Built between 280-260bc this shrine marks the site of a truely monumental battle between the Belgic Ambiani and the Gallic Armoricani where around eight hundred people are believed to have died. The victorious Ambiani erected this shrine to celebrate the great battle, they decapitated the bodies of the defeated Armoricani warriors taking the heads home with them as trophies, the headless corpses and thousands of weapons collected from the battle feild were hung from a large wooden platform as a clear symbol for all too see of the might of the victors and the power of thier gods.
As for their own dead the Ambiani collected their bones and arranged them into neat cubic structures containing pits into which crushed and burnt bones were cast.
The site continued in this way until it was torn down by the romans around 30bc when a roman temple was erected, this was later expanded in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE becoming a major Gallo-Roman Temple complex of some fifty hectares in size complete with a theater and baths. The last evidence of activity on the site occured around 380bc, it is unknown why the site was abandoned but a combination of Germanic incursions (some of the site had previously been burned at the end of the third century CE) and the rise of Christianinty (Theodosious's prescriptions against paganism started around this time too) are seen as the most likely reasons.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Originally Posted by bobbin

The Ribemont-Sur-Ancre Battle Shrine
Built between 280-260bc this shrine marks the site of a truely monumental battle between the Belgic Ambiani and the Gallic Armoricani where around eight hundred people are believed to have died. The victorious Ambiani erected this shrine to celebrate the great battle, they decapitated the bodies of the defeated Armoricani warriors taking the heads home with them as trophies, the headless corpses and thousands of weapons collected from the battle feild were hung from a large wooden platform as a clear symbol for all too see of the might of the victors and the power of thier gods.
As for their own dead the Ambiani collected their bones and arranged them into neat cubic structures containing pits into which crushed and burnt bones were cast.
The site continued in this way until it was torn down by the romans around 30bc when a roman temple was erected, this was later expanded in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE becoming a major Gallo-Roman Temple complex of some fifty hectares in size complete with a theater and baths. The last evidence of activity on the site occured around 380bc, it is unknown why the site was abandoned but a combination of Germanic incursions (some of the site had previously been burned at the end of the third century CE) and the rise of Christianinty (Theodosious's prescriptions against paganism started around this time too) are seen as the most likely reasons.

Re: The Europa Barbarorum Wonders Project

Easter island? No, quite a bit closer...

The giants of Monte Prama are part of a series of 40 nuragic statues found near the phoenician colony of Tharros, Sardinia.
Their dating is estimated between XII and VII centuries BC and are considered by some archeologists to be the nuragic equivalent of the terracotta army.
Average height is around 2-2.5m and are supposed to be linked to the Filitosa monument in Corsica through their manufacturing style.